NCC to Sanction 13 Telecom Firms Over Unsolicited SMS

• NCC to Sanction 13 Telecom Firms Over Unsolicited SMS

About 13 telecoms operators may face sanctions over unsolicited telemarketing and for failing to comply with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) order on the do-not-disturb (DND) directive issued to them on April 20, 2016.

They have, however, been given another one-week ultimatum from Monday, November 14, 2016 to remedy the situation or face the sanctions.

The network operators include Airtel Network Limited, MTN Nigeria, Globacom Nigeria, Visafone Communications, N-Tel and Etisalat.

Others are Multilinks, Starcomms, Smile Communication, Danjay Telecoms, Gamjitel Limited and Gicell wireless.
A statement by the NCC’s Director, Public Affairs, Mr. Tony Ojobo, said the commission, worried by the non-compliance of the operators occasioned by a deluge of complaints by subscribers across Nigeria, has inaugurated an eight-member committee to look into the matter.

According to Ojobo, after several meetings, including those NCC held with the network providers, it became necessary to issue the latest ultimatum to redress the menace of incessant unsolicited text messages and phone calls for telemarketing via the various networks.

He said that the NCC had written to all the 13 operators on whose networks it has received a series of complaints from subscribers regarding the efficacy of the DND service.

The statement said: “NCC has therefore asked these network providers to ensure that information on the do-not-disturb service should be disseminated after every revenue generating activity via the end of call notification (EOCN) for the period not less than 45 days within the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. daily from the receipt of the latest letter on the subject.

The operators are also admonished to deploy this information through all their channels of communications, including websites, social media platforms, bill-boards, flash messages, text messages, interactive voice response platform, radio jingles, newspapers advertisements and television commercials. This notice serves as a pre-enforcement notice and ‘failure to comply with the directives, in furtherance of the direction of April 20, 2016, within seven days from November 14, 2016 shall result in the imposition of appropriate sanctions.

The menace of unsolicited text messages has been a nightmare to several millions of subscribers and the commission can no longer accept any excuses whatsoever from the network providers.”