Value Added Services Providers Reject NCC’s Auto-renewal Ban

• Value Added Services Providers Reject NCC’s Auto-renewal Ban

Value Added Service (VAS) providers licensed by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) have rejected the ban imposed by the regulator on auto-renewal of their services.

According to them, hardline regulatory stance would do nothing but hurt the inflow of investment into the country. They also said the ban has left their accounts with zero balance, a situation that has also led many of them to close shops and axe workers.

But the NCC has insisted that the ban is not open to negotiation because it is the icing on the cake of forced subscription. It added that most of the VAS providers were crooks, who reaped from where they did not sow.

Speaking in Lagos at the first Annual Nigeria Value Added Service Stakeholders forum, CEO Mobility Arts, George Ager, said forced subscription of subscribers remained a major challenge in the industry, adding that, however, that crooks involved in the practice are well known. He, however, said taking away auto-renewal would kill the sector which is already in pains.

Also speaking, Funmobile CEO, Yahaya Maibe, said auto-renewal is a legitimate business, which and should be allowed to stand. He cited over the top (OTT) service providers that are not regulated yet rake a huge chunk of revenue from the country. Maibe said instead of taking further steps that would stifle the industry, the regulator should implement a bail-out package for the service providers.

Another contributor who identified himself simply as Richard, said autocratic regulation stifles business growth. He likened the NCC decision of closing down the Third Mainland bridge because some unscrupulous elements were going to transport contraband to the city through the bridge.

Responding, Head, Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement, Mr Efosa Idehen, said forced subscription and auto-renewal are two different things, arguing that the latter precipitates and lubricates the former.

He stressed the need for ethical growth of the VAS industry stressing that it is critical for optimising the enormous potential of the telecoms sector. He accused some operators in the industry of embarking on outright pilfering of subscribers cash, adding that the protection of the consumers remained one of the pillars upon which the regulator established.

A chieftain of the umbrella body of VAS, Association of Value Added Services Providers of Nigeria (WAPAN), Samuel Aderinola, blamed the operators for the prevalence of rogue value-added services on the network.

According to him, the telcos are supposed to provide the infrastructure that would effectively weed out all rogue messages in the system.

There was, however, a general consensus that there was need for self-regulation among the members of WASPAN. They agreed that there were bad elements within the VAS segment of the industry.