Posted by From JAMES OJO, Abuja on
House of Representatives has disagreed with the offering of N175 airtime as compensation for subscribers on the network of Celtel, one of the GSM providers, saying it was ridiculous.
House of Representatives has disagreed with the offering of N175 airtime as compensation for subscribers on the network of Celtel, one of the GSM providers, saying it was ridiculous.
NCC, the regulatory agency in the telecommunication sector, was inspired to direct operators to pay compensation to subscribers for poor quality of services or face sanctions.
Reacting to the offer by the Celtel management, the House Committee on Communications said at the weekend that the amount was grossly inadequate and the modalities for payment flawed.
'The chairman of Committee on Communication, Hon Jerry Manwe, noted after the committee had reviewed the modalities outlined by Celtel for the payment of compensation to its customers, that the method adopted are not only flawed, but misdirected and lacking any sense of commitment."
Condemning the method adopted by the GSM providers in a statement, the committee said that the idea that only active subscribers from January 2008 to date would be eligible to benefit is a breach of social trust with the people.
Manwe observed that the bulk of subscribers on the network of Celtel have been on well before 2008, noting that it was not acceptable for the company to fix the period it would compensate subscribers that have been suffering from poor quality services.
While calling an upward review of what to pay their subscribers, the chairman said that the details of compensation should be made public through the publication of list of telephone numbers of the beneficiaries in a newspaper.
He reminded other service providers the obligation to compensate their customers by way of free airtime, warning that the National Assembly would no more tolerate any breach of the NCC Act.