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|  By Professor Umar Garba Danbatta  |

TODAY’s event is remarkable because the Nigerian Telecom Consumer is center stage. Often ignored, exploited and regarded as an irritation, the telecom consumer fulfills that truism that a chain can only be as strong as its weakest link. The telecom weak link, rightly or wrongly is the consumer. The consumer who scratches a 200 naira air credit card is as important as the one that spends one hundred thousand naira. Both of them expect qualitative service from their operators whether in making calls or using data. The NCC is mandated to monitor the QoS and ensure it conforms to acceptable standard. And we must remember that these consumers together have made all the success stories we speak about possible in the telecom industry today.

In 2015, Nigerian telecom consumers spent a whopping $5.6 billion on telecommunications services. And in 2016, they topped it up by another $1billion to make it $6.6 billion.

That’s why today’s event is remarkable. More remarkable is that the Year 2017 is dedicated to the Nigerian Telecom Consumer. A management decision that compels us to seek to amplify our activities towards ensuring that the consumer enjoys a customer experience that is enhanced and consistent in time and quality. Just as their patronage is important, they must not and cannot be taken for granted. NCC knows and recognizes this. That is why in 2017 and I dare say, and even beyond, the Consumer will be our focus. NCC intends to inform and educate the consumer with the sole intent of protecting and empowering them to make the right decisions.

As a regulator, NCC has the mandate to ensure all its key stakeholders are protected and their interests balanced in an atmosphere of openness and transparency and within the framework of the NCA 2003 and other subsidiary legislations.

Indeed, almost one year ago the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) launched an 8-Point Agenda. The agenda, which drives activities of the NCC until 2020 aims, among other things, to:

1. Facilitate Broadband Penetration;
2. Improve Quality of Service;
3. Optimize Usage and Benefits of Spectrum;
4. Promote ICT Innovation and Investment Opportunities;
5. Facilitate Strategic Collaboration and Partnership;
6. Protect and Empower Consumers;
7. Promote Fair Competition and Inclusive Growth and
8. Ensure Regulatory Excellence and Operational Efficiency.

Item two, Improve quality of service and item six protecting and empowering the consumers, are the core drivers of the NCC year of the consumer initiative.

Consistent with item six of the Agenda, the goal is to protect consumers from unfair practices through availability of information and education required to make informed choices in the use of ICT services. This is being actively pursued by strengthening initiatives, to educate and inform consumers in their use of communications services and act swiftly and consistently whenever necessary in the use of enforcement to protect telecom services consumers’ rights and privileges.

As key stakeholders, the Consumers are therefore at the core of the 8-Point Agenda and regulatory activities of the NCC.

In this regard, the Consumer Affairs Bureau of the Commission has the mandate “To ensure the protection of the rights, privileges and interests of telecommunications consumers, including the physically challenged groups through adequate information dissemination programmes; as well as effective policies and strategies that promote effective and qualitative telecoms service delivery.”

The Consumer Affairs Bureau, deriving from the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA 2003), Part I of Chapter VII in particular, has responsibility to the consumer as a major stakeholder.

Coincidentally, Consumer International has also designated today, March 15, 2017, as the World Consumer Rights Day with the theme ‘Building a digital world consumers we can trust’. This is a theme that is in tune with NCC’s commitment to its role as a regulator. The Commission has consequently declared year 2017 as the Year of the Consumer.

Our focus on the consumer this year does not in any way suggest neglect of the other stakeholders in the telecommunication sector. Rather it suggests a recommitment to consumer satisfaction. NCC is driven by the desire to empower the consumer and it is rolling out new initiatives to achieve this.  The objective is to make the satisfaction of the telecommunications consumer the focus of the Commission’s regulatory activities consistent with the 8-Point Agenda.

The world over the consumer is a major stakeholder in any enterprise especially in the telecommunications sector. The consumer supplies the blood line that keeps the Telcos in business and churning out more services. If the consumer is satisfied the revenue belt increases.

At NCC we are convinced that the consumer deserves better quality of service without having to demand it.

The consumer deserves timely and unique information from the NCC and Telcos without having to beg or search for it. Information is power and under the year of the consumer initiative the NCC will widen and deepen the scope of information to be provided to help consumers make informed decisions.

The Year of the Consumer will therefore focus on two key areas: improving the Quality of Service; Protecting and Educating the Consumer. To address the unsolicited calls received by consumers, the NCC has introduced the Do Not Disturb (DND) facility where consumers are urged to activate the service by dialing 2442. There is also the 622 number for the NCC customer complaint line. NCC intends to increase the awareness level and equally the activation level of these two initiatives.

In its determination to ensure that the Consumer experiences improved Quality of Service  in the year and beyond, the Commission is implementing measures to reduce Dropped Call Rate to meet its industry benchmark of less than one percent (<1% DCR). It will closely monitor, track and review the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of operators by Network Integrity and Technical Standards. Greater efforts would also be put in compliance, monitoring and enforcement of set standards. The Commission will also enlighten consumers about the environmental impact of telecom infrastructure.

A robust media program will accompany the initiatives in this campaign through the year providing unique and timely information to all consumers.

As part of efforts to realize NCC 2017 Year of the Consumer, I have convened a meeting with MNOs and infrastructure providers to demand that the quality of services must be improved upon immediately.

This is to ensure that the consumer gets value for money and gets satisfactory user experience.

When the year is ended, the NCC should be able to measure the success and impact of this initiative by the level of awareness created among consumers in the hope that the Nigerian telecom consumer would then consistently get the right quality experience and value for money.

Thank you for listening.

• Being speech by Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, executive vice chairman/chief executive officer, Nigerian Communications Commission at the flag-off of the NCC Year of Consumer on March 15, 2017 in Abuja.

—  Feb 27, 2017 @ 01:00 GMT

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