By Prince Osuagwu
One of the differences between developed societies and the underdeveloped ones is in the way they apply resources. In most cases, it is not even where they put their funds or on what they expend it. Sometimes it is mainly on how each recognises what constitutes wealth.
While a resource creates wealth for one, it may only constitute health hazzard for the other. Take for instance the issue of eWaste. While this has become a lot of blessing to many developed societies it is only a curse in many parts of Africa, Nigeria inclusive.
In Europe and America, recycling started long ago, building into what has today become a large industry that spins money but Nigeria for instance fails to adapt and only end up contacting chronic and terminal diseases from same source that spins money from others. This does not help the cause of Global Village. Neither does it give a good account of much touted technological transfer between the developed and the under-developed worlds.
But now, the issue is beginning to worry many stakeholders and if this headache continues, perhaps there may be a quicker action. At least experience has shown that the only time speedy policies are put in place is when people in authority begin to get direct negative impact of issues they failed to take action against.
Recently, the Executive Director, Basel Convention Coordinating Centre for the Africa Region, Prof Oladele Osibanjo querried why Africa and particularly Nigeria should leave e-waste to pollute our society, instead of recycling it to generate fund. At 2-Day summit organised by Lagos State Government to sensitise stakeholders on the proper use of e-waste, Osibanjo explained that such un-used or expired electrical electronics appliances such as computers, television set, lap tops, GSM phones amongst others which are either burnt or dumped anywhere can actually generate money if we just apply a little more sense.
For him, the problem of ewaste is global and not perculiar to Africa but that the difference is that the developed world build factories where they are recycled to generate individual, corporate and national income.
He lamented the hazards of burning these waste products adding that the health implications are as gruesome as grandiose the benefits can be. He urged the Federal Government to intensify the battle to get rid of environmental pollution by first investing in factories where e-waste could be recycled for the benefit of all citizenry.
Thursday 24 February 2011
Wednesday 23 February 2011
How bill figures set MTN and 2 customers apart
By Prince Osuagwu
An alleged spurious telephone bill is setting Nigeria’s largest telecom operator, MTN, on war part with two of its business package subscribers, Messrs Umana Okon Umana, and Senator Anietie Okon.
Umana, the Secretary to the Akwa Ibom state government, is furious that MTN on December 2010, pilled a bill of about N3.07 million for him to pay for the month, saying the details of the bill did not sit well with him.
Also, Senator Okon has a similar case, where he is repudiating a bill of N527,790.19 he was alleged to have incurred in September 2010 .
Making both cases known to ICT reporters in Lagos, Communications consultant of the duo, Iboro Otongaran who is the CEO of Ikeja based outfit, Pro Data limited, frowned that an international business outfit like the operator, could put its customers through such harrowing conditions.
However, MTN through it General Manager, Corporate Communications, Funmi Omogbenigun, promised that the issues would be promptly addressed. She quickly dismissed claims that MTN does not care for its customers adding that it is in the company’s interest to ensure that its customers enjoy the kind of quality of service, information and complaints resolution that they richly deserve.
According to Otongaran, “Our client Umana has been suspended from the MTN network after he rejected a bill of N3, 073, 612.36, which was nearly 3000% above his monthly credit limit of N250, 000. He rejected the bill because it was in excess of his credit limit, fictitious and arbitrary. He accepted a bill of N300, 000 only as charges related to phone calls only. MTN had unilaterally exceeded his credit limit in November 2010 when the subscriber travelled to Germany and the UK. About N2.9 million or 95% of the bill was classified as GPRS charges. The GPRS, as feature or product, was never made known to the subscriber; its financial implication to the contract was never explained to him. This whooping amount of money for the so-called GPRS charges was basically for just four days when the subscriber travelled abroad”.
He noted that the bill MTN is asking of Umana was the equivalent of about $20,000 or $11,500, arguing that there is no where in the world where an individual subscriber can run up such bills for just four days for GSM services, even if he had spent the entire days just making phone calls and accessing internet services.
He also presented the case of Senator Anietie Okon whom he said was billed N562, 749.44 in September 2010 for roaming calls he never made. Senator Okon, according to him, had travelled abroad and made calls on his other line not MTN but was surprised that MTN slammed him with a bill that could not have been his. He alleged that in spite of all representations, the phone company has remained obstinate and is insisting on collecting the bill.
But when MTN was contacted, its GM Corporate communications, Omogbenigun, said “we are in receipt of the complaints made by Messers Umanna and Okon. As a customer- centred organisation, we are concerned when any of our esteemed customers have any reason to complain. That is why our Customer Relations Division is thoroughly investigating the issues raised and we are confident that we will be in a position to make the necessary explanations and resolve all the matters under contention. In the meantime, we will immediately engage both customers and assure them of our commitment to ensure a satisfactory outcome for all concerned.
The management of MTN wishes to further state that the viability of our business is inextricably linked to customer satisfaction, and we do not take this responsibility lightly. It is in our interest to ensure that our customers enjoy the kind of quality of service, information and complaints resolution that they richly deserve.
An alleged spurious telephone bill is setting Nigeria’s largest telecom operator, MTN, on war part with two of its business package subscribers, Messrs Umana Okon Umana, and Senator Anietie Okon.
Umana, the Secretary to the Akwa Ibom state government, is furious that MTN on December 2010, pilled a bill of about N3.07 million for him to pay for the month, saying the details of the bill did not sit well with him.
Also, Senator Okon has a similar case, where he is repudiating a bill of N527,790.19 he was alleged to have incurred in September 2010 .
Making both cases known to ICT reporters in Lagos, Communications consultant of the duo, Iboro Otongaran who is the CEO of Ikeja based outfit, Pro Data limited, frowned that an international business outfit like the operator, could put its customers through such harrowing conditions.
However, MTN through it General Manager, Corporate Communications, Funmi Omogbenigun, promised that the issues would be promptly addressed. She quickly dismissed claims that MTN does not care for its customers adding that it is in the company’s interest to ensure that its customers enjoy the kind of quality of service, information and complaints resolution that they richly deserve.
According to Otongaran, “Our client Umana has been suspended from the MTN network after he rejected a bill of N3, 073, 612.36, which was nearly 3000% above his monthly credit limit of N250, 000. He rejected the bill because it was in excess of his credit limit, fictitious and arbitrary. He accepted a bill of N300, 000 only as charges related to phone calls only. MTN had unilaterally exceeded his credit limit in November 2010 when the subscriber travelled to Germany and the UK. About N2.9 million or 95% of the bill was classified as GPRS charges. The GPRS, as feature or product, was never made known to the subscriber; its financial implication to the contract was never explained to him. This whooping amount of money for the so-called GPRS charges was basically for just four days when the subscriber travelled abroad”.
He noted that the bill MTN is asking of Umana was the equivalent of about $20,000 or $11,500, arguing that there is no where in the world where an individual subscriber can run up such bills for just four days for GSM services, even if he had spent the entire days just making phone calls and accessing internet services.
He also presented the case of Senator Anietie Okon whom he said was billed N562, 749.44 in September 2010 for roaming calls he never made. Senator Okon, according to him, had travelled abroad and made calls on his other line not MTN but was surprised that MTN slammed him with a bill that could not have been his. He alleged that in spite of all representations, the phone company has remained obstinate and is insisting on collecting the bill.
But when MTN was contacted, its GM Corporate communications, Omogbenigun, said “we are in receipt of the complaints made by Messers Umanna and Okon. As a customer- centred organisation, we are concerned when any of our esteemed customers have any reason to complain. That is why our Customer Relations Division is thoroughly investigating the issues raised and we are confident that we will be in a position to make the necessary explanations and resolve all the matters under contention. In the meantime, we will immediately engage both customers and assure them of our commitment to ensure a satisfactory outcome for all concerned.
The management of MTN wishes to further state that the viability of our business is inextricably linked to customer satisfaction, and we do not take this responsibility lightly. It is in our interest to ensure that our customers enjoy the kind of quality of service, information and complaints resolution that they richly deserve.
Nigerian Telecom Operators' networks go bunkers again
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| Telecom masts: why! are they no longer doing their work? |
By Prince Osuagwu
It seems the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, may have to act faster than it had planned, to punish the telecom operators whose quality of service, QoS, do not give good taste. This is because at the moment, there are ceaseless complaints, anguish and scores of swears by subscribers over poor services that do not give them value for their money.
For unexplained reasons, the quality of service of major telecom operators in Nigeria in the last three weeks, have dropped, leaving hapless subscribers with bitter experiences in non call completion, dropped calls and cross connection errors among others.
Penultimate week, Globacom switched off on majority of its subscribers in major parts of Lagos metropolis, for about two days, before it was discovered that one of its major switches in Lagos was engulfed by fire. The Second National Operator is yet to be free from that misfortune as the snarl on its network is still conspicuous.
For MTN, some of its subscribers are complaining that they never had it so bad. For some of them, initiating calls from MTN lines to other networks would either leave the caller with false information that the number dialed does not exist or quietly drives him into the voice mail service.
Airtel seems to be good when connecting another Airtel but leaves the subscriber hopeless when dialing another operator. Etisalat will connect the caller but dash the hope mid way when the call would drop.
Some post paid subscribers to these networks are not recounting good experiences either. They worry over the billing and accounting systems of the operators, decrying a new turn of events on the negative.
While some complain of over- billing, others allege that their bill payments are not being credited in good time to allow them carry out their respective businesses on phone.
Penultimate week the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC Dr Eugene Juwah did admit that the commission had for so long left the operators to self-regulate themselves on Quality of Service but regretted the shocking realisation that things were rather getting worse. He promised that whichever operator the Key Performance Index, KPI, his commission has put in place, indicted, would be punished to feel equal pain the subscribers were going through at the moment.
Perhaps this is the time to act. Although, a strong NCC source has confirmed that NCC is now articulating complaints of poor quality of telecom services and apparently equal measure of punishments and may wield the big stick any moment.
This is even as the regulator also tackles the operators on new SIM Cards, giving directions that new SIM Cards being released into the distribution/sales channels of the operators from February 14 2011shall henceforth be activated with ‘receive only’ and such subscribers should also be enabled to make calls to the emergency numbers and operators’ call centres for a period of thirty (30) days, after which they shall become inactive if not registered .
The commission charged the operators to ensure full compliance with the direction , saying that it shall at the expiration of the deadline enforce compliance and all defaulting network operators shall be sanctioned in accordance with the provisions of the Nigerian Communications Act, 2003 and the Enforcement Regulations 2005.
NCC said that there will be penalty for default in the first instance followed with surcharges for each day the violation lasted.
It could be recalled that the Commission, penultimate week formally entered into agreement with seven companies that will handle the SIM Registration process in different zones of the country.
The activities of the contracting partners will be coordinated by KPMG, an international professional services firm with a member firm in Nigeria. The firm will provide end-to-end project management coordination of the entire project within the contract’s live span of six months.
Although operators started SIM Card Registration since last year, registering only about 12million at the moment, the NCC driven phase of SIM Registration is expected to last for 6months covering the remaining SIMs of over 72million.
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