The Interview Editors
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and Senior Executives of telecommunication companies have held their bi-annual meeting on complaints management.
For the very first time, it held virtually, in compliance with COVID-19 management protocols instituted by the Federal Government.
Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, the director of public affairs in a statement on Thursday said the meeting focused on consumer relations and complaint management processes.
The NCC and the telecom service providers, according to Adinde agreed that the compensation policy should be revisited and complied with at all times.
He said, “This is to ensure full compliance with the new Complaint Categories and Service Level Agreement (CC/SLA) consented to by the NCC and the service providers in the telecommunication ecosystem.”
Additionally, he said, it was decided that the Commission and telecom service providers will hold follow-up discussions on “Fair Usage Policy” on unlimited data bundles/data rollover, in order to provide a clearer explanation and better understanding of the processes and procedures of the policy for the benefit of the consumers.
His said, “The Commission hereby wishes to restate that its direction of June 2018 to service providers to commence implementation of data rollover from 26 June 2018, remains in force.
“In other words, a subscriber’s unused data must be rolled over to his/her subsequent data subscription. Therefore, the Commission urges service providers to continue to inform and educate subscribers on the procedures and processes for data rollover.”
Service providers, Adinde said, also agreed to ensure that senior-level customer relations officers support their respective complaints management teams, to resolve complaints that were not resolved to the satisfaction of the consumers when such complaints were first reported.
He said, “The service providers also promised to ensure that complaints are resolved in both the letter and spirit of the recently-reviewed Service Level Agreement (SLA).
“With respect to services subscribed to through third parties (such as banks), which are not rendered, the meeting resolved that telecom service providers should explore initiating service level agreement with banks to ensure uniformity and speed in the resolution of complaints relating to billing.”
Adinde said all parties to the meeting equally agreed that telecom service providers will carry out pervasive consumer education and enlightenment campaigns about their products and services to ensure their subscribers have the information they require to make informed decisions and get value for money spent.
