Halt billing on calls that bridge to wrong parties, zero voice — Reps tell NCC

Nigeria’s lower legal house, the House of Representatives has urged the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to halt billing on calls that bridge to wrong parties, zero voice.

The NCC is the nation’s telecom regulator playing an oversight role in ensuring consumer satisfaction and the overall health of the telecoms industry.

A survey by Nigerian NewsDirect revealed that consumers are sometimes unable to connect to the party they wish to speak to via a phone call as the network sometimes redirects the call to another user.

Following these complaints, the House of Reps has ordered the NCC to halt charges on the calls that bridge to wrong parties and zero voice.

These resolutions followed the adoption of a motion titled, “Need to Direct Telecommunication Companies to Restrain from Unwarranted Charges on Services not Rendered and Improve Service Delivery” moved by Hon. Emmanuel Ukpong-Udo.

Moving the motion, Ukpong-Udo noted that over 222,500,000 Nigerians subscribed to telephone services at the end of 2022, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

He said that despite the increasing and remarkable patronage of telecommunications services by Nigerians, including low-income earners, rural dwellers, and the vulnerable in our society, communication services provided by network carriers are not proportionate with the interest expressed by Nigerians.

He further expressed worries that Nigerians pay charges for calls with low voice quality arising from congestion, call freezing, and fluctuating network services.

According to him, Nigerians lose valuable business hours and finances due to poor service delivery by these network service providers, while enriching the service providers to their detriment.