…urges NCC to address telcos’ poor network quality
Blessing Taiwo
Following the prolonged outage of the services of 9mobile telecommunications company in Nigeria, a digital and business process expert, Mr Enoch Alonge has described the situation as fraudulent and worrisome.
Alonge also frowned at the alleged blocking of users’ Mobile Number Portability (MNP) by the telco.
The analyst, in an interview with Daily Champion said the unexpected shutdown of 9mobile service is an outright violation of human right.
Alonge said, “this is worrisome, imagine someone just did a month subscription and after some days the service went off, the person couldn’t use it. This is outright fraud.
“The concern for me now is that 9mobile is allegedly blocking its subscribers from porting their numbers to other networks that might provide better services.
This is fraud. The idea behind portability is to give users the freedom of choice, to go for a preferred service. Now, the internet paid for cannot be accessed.
“9mobile is obviously struggling financially, they are not investing in infrastructures that can enable them render a better service and meet the growing demand of consumers.
“Nigeria is a huge market, besides that, the people paying for the services are struggling as the economy is not in a very good shape now. Inflation is everywhere. Out of the little they have, consumers still try to get their businesses and communication going, making sure they are connected. Now, the network services are disconnecting them. It is painful to pay for a network service and not use it, then it expires and you are still hindered from moving to other networks. This is wrong.”
The tech expert urged the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to address the issue and protect consumers’ right.
“The NCC should consider the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), also young entrepreneurs because they are the drivers of the economy.
“They need to act so that businesses can keep thriving and functioning. Young people can have access to the internet to improve their creativity hub,” he stated.
In his message to the subscribers, Alonge said “don’t stay silent. If you’re experiencing poor service or have been blocked from porting, report it directly to the NCC through their official complaint channels. Document everything — dates, times, screenshots — and share your experience publicly if necessary.
“For SMEs, unreliable telecom service affects your bottom line — from delayed transactions to missed customer engagements. Where possible, diversify your communication tools and consider backup alternatives until stability is restored.”
Meanwhile, 9mobile, in a release recently, said the company is facing temporary technical challenges and assured its customers that the issues are being worked on for better service delivery.
