The Senate is seeking to curb unjustified deductions from subscribers’ airtime resulting from substandard telecommunications services through robust consumer protection.
The motion, titled “Need to curb Unjustified Deductions from Subscribers’ Airtime resulting from substandard telecommunications services through Robust Consumer Protection,” is sponsored by Sen. Monguno, Mohammed Tahir, representing Borno North.
The Senate notes that telecommunications services have become indispensable to individuals, businesses and public institutions, with millions of Nigerians spending substantial amounts on airtime daily to meet their communication needs. It observes that subscribers frequently experience failed call connections, abrupt disconnections, inaudible conversations and network interruptions, resulting in airtime deductions without effective communication. It also observes that subscribers are often compelled to make repeated calls to achieve successful connections, thereby incurring additional costs arising from network deficiencies beyond their control.
The Senate is concerned about persistent complaints by telecommunications subscribers over the depletion of purchased airtime arising from unsuccessful, interrupted, dropped and poor-quality telephone calls across the networks of Mobile Network Operators in Nigeria. It affirms that Nigerians must not be made to pay for telecommunications services that have not been effectively delivered, as payment for airtime is payment for a service and not merely an attempt to establish communication.
However, it is disturbed that these seemingly small deductions, when aggregated across millions of subscribers, translate into substantial financial losses, particularly for low-income earners, traders, students and small business operators. It recalls that the Nigerian Communications Act, 2003, empowers the Nigerian Communications Commission to regulate the telecommunications industry, protect consumers and enforce acceptable standards of service delivery.
The Senate recognizes that while occasional network failures may be unavoidable, consumers should not bear the financial consequences of services not delivered or materially compromised by network-related failures. The senate acknowledges that the issue goes beyond poor telecommunications service delivery and raises fundamental concerns about consumer rights, financial accountability and the protection of Nigerians from paying for services they have not effectively received.
Convinced that effective consumer protection requires transparent billing, operator accountability and automatic refunds or appropriate compensation for unjustified airtime deductions, the Senate accordingly resolved to urge the Nigerian Communications Commission to investigate the billing practices of Mobile Network Operators, including MTN Nigeria, Globacom, Airtel Nigeria, and T2 Mobile, to establish the extent of airtime deductions arising from failed, dropped and interrupted calls.
The senate also resolved to urge the Commission to establish an accessible and time-bound complaints and redress mechanism for subscribers seeking refunds or compensation for unjustified deductions and persistent service failures, and to further urge the Commission to establish regulations requiring operators to automatically reverse or refund airtime deducted from verifiably failed calls and qualifying network-related service interruptions.
The Senate further called on the Commission to conduct independent technical audits of operators’ billing systems to ensure that subscribers are charged only for actual and properly delivered chargeable call durations and revert to the Senate within four weeks, and also called on the Commission to strengthen enforcement of Quality-of-Service standards and impose appropriate sanctions on operators whose persistent network deficiencies violate prescribed regulatory standards.
The senate mandated the Committee on Communications to invite the Commission and other relevant telecommunications operators to investigate the concerns raised in the motion, assess the financial losses suffered by subscribers and report back to the Senate within four weeks with recommendations for further legislative and regulatory action.
