The Nigerian Senate has launched a probe into telecommunications operators over alleged arbitrary airtime deductions for failed, dropped and abruptly terminated calls.
The Senate has given its Committee on Communications four weeks to investigate the complaints and determine how much subscribers have lost to the alleged unfair billing practices.
The investigation will cover MTN Nigeria, Globacom, Airtel and T2 Mobile, following persistent complaints by Nigerians who lose airtime even when their calls fail to connect or are cut off shortly after connection.
The resolution followed a motion on consumer protection in the telecommunications sector, sponsored by Senate Chief Whip, Senator Tahir Monguno, and presented by the Deputy Senate Leader.
Senator Ned Nwoko, representing Delta North, seconded the motion, describing the problem as one affecting virtually every telecommunications subscriber in the country.
Nwoko backed the investigation, saying Nigerians should not continue to lose money over poor network services.
The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, while announcing the resolution, directed the committee to invite the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and relevant network operators to answer questions over the complaints.
The committee is expected to establish the financial losses suffered by subscribers and recommend measures to prevent further deductions for services not properly delivered.
Other issues captured in the investigation include the introduction of an accessible complaints and redress mechanism, automatic refunds for verifiably failed calls, independent technical audits of operators’ billing systems and stricter enforcement of quality-of-service standards.
Akpabio urged the committee, chaired by Senator Bill Bills, to begin work immediately, warning that the Senate could take over the investigation if it failed to submit a satisfactory report within four weeks.
He said the Senate would then summon the network operators, the minister supervising the NCC and the commission’s Executive Vice Chairman for questioning.
The Senate President said Nigerians’ complaints and financial losses could no longer be ignored, stressing that the legislature had a responsibility to protect consumers.
He also raised concerns about possible lapses in the supervision of telecommunications operators, insisting that the investigation must establish the causes of the recurring problems and ensure accountability.
Telecommunications subscribers have repeatedly complained about losing airtime when calls fail to connect, disconnect unexpectedly or are disrupted by poor network services.
The Senate’s probe is expected to determine whether the deductions result from technical failures, defective billing systems or lapses in regulatory enforcement, with possible refunds and stricter measures against offending operators.
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