NCC to punish telecom operators for ignoring customers’ complaints
Telecom operators who fail to attend to their customers’ complaints within 24 hours will have to face the wrath of the Nigeria Communications Commission, (NCC), an executive commissioner has said.
Adeleke Adewolu, the executive commissioner, stakeholders management, said this at a meeting with operators on Thursday in Abuja.
During the meeting, a report issued on the service level agreements (SLA), which the consumer service affairs department of the commission and operators had put in place, was presented.
Sections 104,105 and 106 of the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA) 2003 mandate the NCC to take appropriate measures to protect telecoms consumers and ensure the quality of services so that consumers get value for their money.
The commission and the operators met to appraise the level of implementation of the policies
“We are presenting today a report following the review of complaint categories and the service level agreement which the consumer affairs of the NCC has put in place with the service providers network operators.
“If a particular incident happens in the service provision and the customer feels dissatisfied with the service he received, if he complains and does not receive a response from the providers within 24 hours then they will be punished, ” he said.
He said the last review by both parties was done 11 years ago and needs to be updated.
Adewolu said, “the SLAs are fully benchmarked against international best practice, particularly those of comparable jurisdictions.”
He said service providers and all other stakeholders in the value chain must ensure that consumer complaints and service issues are treated with seriousness.
Adewolu said the SLAs will guide the delivery of communication services and a resolution of consumer complaints. “Also it will provide remediation mechanism and associated timelines”.
The documents on the agreements were reviewed in 2017. The review process was expanded in 2018 to include relevant stakeholders.