Africa seems to be harsh when it comes to imposing prison sentences but the region, at least, the leaders simply want to bring quality mobile services as standard to African countries. Nigeria is the latest to be added to the list of countries imposing prison sentences on those mobile operators that fail to deliver quality services to customers.
Clearly, this is an effort for telecoms to provide quality services since a number of mobile operators often fail to keep their promises. The likes of those in Zambia and Tanzania don’t always provide quality mobile services. As for the Nigeria, the Nigeria Consumer Protection Council (CPC) is working hard to assure subscribers of reliable mobile and data connection all the time. The CPC has already warned operators that criminal charges will be filed if they fail to render services as promised.
The Nigerian government and the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment have formed the council to make sure people always get what they pay for. Value for money in the African country is important and the best way operators will follow is to be strict by whipping up the order. Consumer watchdogs such as the CPC are essential to make sure companies don’t make their regular mistakes.
The problem with telecom services in the country and the region, consumers often have to deal with credit wipe-off, unsolicited calls and SMS, and dropped calls. All these are because of the lack of investment in networks. The end result is consumers are losing their money on uncompleted calls or texts not sent.
This prison sentences came after the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) imposed a ban on operators last year. The companies were banned to add more subscribers until networks were improved. That actually makes sense because mobile networks are expected to at least maintain and improve services on a smaller set of subscribers. Instead of adding to the number, why not just work on the services first. Less subscribers mean a less congested network.
There is serious network congestion now in the region but mobile operators are requested to undergo Quality Assurance tests (QAT). This will make sure that all operators meet service quality levels as mentioned in their service level agreements with the consumers. Unfortunately, not all mobile phone operators follow the rules so the council thought of imposing a stricter warning.
CPC Director General Dupe Atoki shared: “In order to enforce consumer rights and ensure compliance with CPC’s enabling law, CPC has adopted a strategy of criminal prosecution of recalcitrant businesses or litigations to achieve satisfactory redress.”
Nigeria is the largest telecom market in Africa so the country could influence other countries if it handles the issue well according to telecom analyst Edith Mwale of the Africa Center for ICT Development. “Nigeria’s decision to start slapping operators with criminal charges will closely be followed by many other countries in Africa because not only is Nigeria Africa’s largest telecom market but also the region’s largest economy,”, Mwale said.
VIA: PCWorld
What is this? A fifth grade “report” on a PCWorld article?
Though credited this is borderline plagiarism–it’s just a line by line, paragraph by paragraph retelling of the original, there’s nothing additional here, no commentary, critique, or even just a layman’s explanation of the situation. Nor does the article have anything to do with Android.
What is the point of this article exactly?
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