Posted by Vanguard on
Disturbed by the rise in reports of financial scams within the telecom industry, the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) is now working with the EFCC to track fake telecom companies.
Disturbed by the rise in reports of financial scams within the telecom industry, the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) is now working with the EFCC to track fake telecom companies.
Some of the companies licensed by the NCC placed adverts that could not be substantiated, others sold vouchers without credits to customers while some operated for a while and closed shop after gathering money that belonged to other operators.
Most of the pre-paid companies owed NITEL for carrier services as much as N600 million and folded up their business without a notification to NITEL or the NCC.
Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Mr Ernest Ndukwe said at the weekend in Kaduna that the commission had already blacklisted five pre-paid companies involved in such activities.
'Some of them are actually ‘419' operators and the EFCC is looking at such cases and they will face the music after investigations."
Ndukwe said the commission had also started work with the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) to ensure that telecom consumers were not exposed to 'various tricks by companies to fleece them," especially those who placed adverts on regular basis.
On signs of distress in the industry, Ndukwe said some of the Private Telecom Operators (PTO) otherwise known as fixed wireless operators had been asked to merge in order to survive the competition.
Ndukwe said they would need technical expertise and strong financing to survive.
He said the commission had not made the idea of merging a policy as obtained in the banking sector but would find different avenues of getting the operators to agree.
Ndukwe who decried the death of Mobitel boss, Mr Alaba Joseph, said the commission had kept an eye on the industry to ensure healthy competition, fair treatment of subscribers and adherence to other internationally acceptable standards of operation.
The commission had already started a process to withdraw licenses given to some of the operators who faulted this conditions attached.