Senate Moves To Sanction Telecom Operators Over Failed-Call Airtime Deductions

The Senate has ordered an investigation into illegal airtime deductions by telecommunications operators for failed, dropped and interrupted calls, giving its Committee on Communications four weeks to establish subscribers’ financial losses and recommend appropriate sanctions.

The resolution followed a motion on consumer protection sponsored on Wednesday by the Chief Whip, Senator Mohammed Monguno.

While seconding the motion, Senator Ned Nwoko described the problem as one affecting virtually every Nigerian who uses telecommunications services.

Nwoko said subscribers should not continue losing money for services they neither received nor enjoyed, stressing that the Senate must intervene to protect consumers from avoidable financial losses.

“It is all about consumer protection. A lot of time, everybody is involved in the use of calls, making calls across the country, and we all experience the same technical issues,” Nwoko said.

The Senate subsequently adopted a consolidated resolution directing the Committee on Communications to invite the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and telecommunications operators to investigate complaints involving failed calls, dropped calls, unterminated calls and questionable billing.

The committee is also expected to establish the financial losses suffered by subscribers and submit its findings, alongside recommendations for legislative and regulatory action, within four weeks.

The investigation will cover the billing practices of MTN, Globacom, Airtel and T2 Mobile, as well as proposals for automatic refunds for verifiably failed calls, independent technical audits of operators’ billing systems, accessible complaints mechanisms and stricter enforcement of quality-of-service standards.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio urged the committee to begin work immediately, warning that the Senate, as a body, would take over the investigation if its report failed to address the concerns satisfactorily.

“Four weeks is too long, but we can allow it. If in four weeks they don’t satisfy us, then we have to take it as a Committee of the Whole and invite all the operators, in addition to the Minister overseeing the NCC and also the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, to ask these pertinent questions,” Akpabio said.

He warned that the legislature could no longer ignore widespread complaints from subscribers who lose airtime despite poor or undelivered telecommunications services.

“The public is complaining, and our job here is to make sure that we tackle the concerns of the Nigerian public and also the losses they suffer that are actually avoidable,” he added.

Akpabio also questioned the effectiveness of supervision in the sector, insisting that the Senate would engage the NCC, the supervising minister and telecommunications operators to ensure accountability and lasting solutions.

The probe is expected to determine whether operators have violated existing regulatory requirements on billing transparency and service quality, and establish appropriate measures to stop subscribers from being charged for calls that fail to connect or terminate prematurely.