Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) bans promos, lotteries bytelecoms operators

Regulatory body of Nigerian telecom industry, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has banned all promos and lotteries run by telecoms operators in the country. The ban according to the statement released by the commission, is with immediate effect.

Read statement after the jump......

“Consistent with its processes, the commission has carefully evaluated the complaints received especially against the backdrop of sustaining the integrity of the networks, the general interest of the consumers, the socio-economic impact of these promotions on operators and other relevant stakeholders.

“The commission therefore has banned all promotions by telecommunications network operators as well as lotteries being carried out on such networks. This ban covers all proposed and approved promotions and lotteries on which the commission has given approval further to the memorandum of understanding (MOU) entered into with the National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC)”

The commission said the ban takes immediate effect and shall continue to remain in force until such a time as may be determined by the Commission. Affected operators are Globacom, MTN, Intercellular, Visafone, Etisalat, Airtel and Multilinks.

The regulatory body had promised to assured all telecommunications consumers of its determination towards ensuring that quality services are being offered by their network providers.

“ In due regard to the afore-mentioned responsibilities, therefore and having observed that these promotions have increased the number of minutes available to subscribers for use within a limited period of time thereby creating congestion in the networks as subscribers try to use up the available minutes within the stipulated time.

“That on-net calls were now being offered by operators at tariffs well below the prevailing inter-connect rates thereby introducing anti-competitive practices and behaviour.

“That termination of calls were becoming increasingly difficult from one network to another and overall consumer experience on the networks has become very poor thereby making it extremely difficult for subscribers to make calls successfully,” NCC noted.