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Inconsistency of
charges by telecoms service providers is fast becoming an issue of
concern to the Nigerian mobile telecoms user, according to findings
from a new research into the sector.

The Nigerian
telecoms market, with its subscriber base of over 70 million and the
largest and fastest growing market in Africa, still faces several
challenges as users say they are worried about call tariffs and
irregularities by service providers.

Ciuci Consulting, a
finance research and consulting firm behind the study, said it was
aimed at obtaining information on the most critical service needs of
both prepaid and postpaid mobile phone users.

The survey,
conducted in Lagos State with a total of 500 respondents, showed that
among other challenges, a major issue experienced by mobile users is
the inconsistency of charges for mobile services.

When asked about
whether they are or have been charged above the advertised rates for
services used, 71 percent of the respondents said they have not been,
while 29 percent said they had been. 60 percent said they would switch
providers as a result of inconsistent charges, while 40 percent said
they would not.

In the report of
the survey, titled ‘What do Nigerian mobile phone users want’, 59
percent of the respondents said they had received from their service
providers as a reward for patronage, while 41 percent said they had not
received any form of discounts. 45 percent of the respondents said they
would switch their operators for not receiving discounts after long
time patronage, while 55 percent said they would not.

Chukwuka Monye,
Managing Partner, Ciuci Consulting, said he was moved to carry out a
research and then a survey on the sector, given the advancement and
growth rate of mobile phone subscribers in the country, in the period
following the launch of mobile services, which has exceeded projections.

“We have gotten
what users want, and we believe that service providers would find this
report very useful in knowing and addressing the actual needs of their
customers,” he said.

Call tariffs

Alongside
inconsistent charges, call tariffs continue to be a topical issue among
both operators and users of mobile services. Consumers constantly groan
about the high cost of services, while operators find reasons to
justify why the charges for services are what they are. Though service
providers are now using the new inter-connects rates, operators have
still not cut down their tariff.

Consumers had hoped
for an immediate reduction on call costs from the effective date,
January 1, and wondered why it seems the same charges are still being
deducted for calls to other networks.

Bola Adegoke, a
mobile user, said he is worried at the irregularities. “There has been
a lot on the issue of deduction when the network is bad, which none of
the operators I used has at anytime be apologetic to, but the issue of
indiscriminate and imbalance deduction is what I think should be
checked.

“Sometimes, you
make a call of few seconds and discover that a huge airtime has been
deducted and some other times, it’s the charges of an undelivered
message that was deducted for. It is mad, and no one is checking all
this,” he said.

Yemi Babaniyi said
though he has not been closely monitoring charges to note
irregularities, he believes charges could be lower. “I use MTN. I think
they are the most expensive network at the moment, and I am worried
about their expensive charge rate.”

However, despite
the consumers’ agitations, network operators argue that the present
tariff is right for the market, and have promised no specific
reductions, noting that tariff reduction can be considered on the basis
of customer satisfaction.

The Nigerian
Communications has stated clearly that it is not empowered to order
operators to reduce the tariff. NCC officials say Nigerian
Communications Act 2003 only empowers the NCC to intervene in the
aspect of interconnect rate and to encourage competition.

According to them,
an effective way to achieve reduction in tariff is to encourage robust
competition, as it is such competition that can actually bring down
tariff.