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In an effort to
ensure that Nigerian telecommunications consumers get value for the
money spent for services, the federal government has directed the
Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC to develop an action plan for
improving quality of service before July 9, 2010.

Dora Akunyili,
Minister of Information and Communications, gave this directive last
week in Abuja during an interactive session with investors in the
communications sector.

This, according to
her, is essential considering that most Nigerians have been asking
questions and expressing displeasure over the services provided by
mobile telecommunications industry.

“We all know there
is a problem,” she said. “Poor quality of service has become a
recurring decimal and the government is deeply concerned about this
seemingly intractable problem. We shall tackle this head-on and hereby
direct the management of NCC to submit to my office within two weeks a
comprehensive plan of action on how to improve quality of service.”

Ignored complaints

The minister also
said that in spite of the repeated calls by the government to operators
and regulators to address the problems related to service quality,
nothing tangible has been done. “Drop calls remain a problem despite
our constant appeals for you to improve on it. Poor voice signal
quality and reception is becoming peculiar to Nigeria. It is not only
wasting our money and wasting our time but also creating a very bad
image. It is creating a terrible culture of Nigerians shouting on the
phone instead of talking. The lack of inadequate inter connectivity
remains an area of concern,” Mrs. Akunyili added noting that it is
worrying that although these concerns are correctable, yet they persist.

According to the
Minister, the Nigerian telecoms market is experiencing a boom and
government intends to ensure that this growth profile is sustainable
through sound policies and a proper regulatory framework.

Huge success

The telecoms
industry has continued to deliver superior returns on investment
despite the global economic meltdown. This is evident in the huge
turnovers being made by the network operators as well as the market’s
ability to steadily attract international telecoms companies.

For Mrs Akunyili,
despite the perceived operational challenges that telecom operators
face, Nigeria’s subscriber base currently stands at about 78 million.
“We are not unmindful that the huge success recorded so far is not
without its fair share of responsibilities such as ensuring good
quality of service, affordable tariffs among other. The ministry is
interested in addressing the issues and finding lasting solutions.”

“I understand that
the big operators are making it big. If we sanitise the environment you
will grow faster. The small ones are not growing as they should because
the environment is not sanitised enough for them to grow.

“As long as the
regulation is not strong, the big will remain bigger while the small
will be so suppressed that eventually they will fizzle out and we do
not want it to happen because the more people we have as operators, the
more the operators and the better for the consumers,” she said.

Responding to the Minister, Bashir Gwandu, the Acting Executive Vice
Chairman of NCC there said that the commission will deliver on the
mandate within the time frame given. “The document will be ready in the
next few weeks. We will be consulting with the industry to see how we
can finalise the document in accordance with the law establishing the
NCC,” he said.