Some telecommunication(telecoms) subscribers in the South-South region have called on the Federal Government to provide alternative networks and revive its own telecoms for efficient communications in the country.
The subscribers made the remark while responding to the survey conducted by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Cross River, Rivers and Akwa Ibom on mitigating high telecoms tariffs.
They also called for sanctions against the defaulting operators in order to also check the excesses of some telecoms companies in the provision of service to customers.
They decried the constant poor network, drop calls, interruptions and the high charges, saying that the more they increase the tariffs, the poorer the services they rendered to the subscribers.
The subscribers, however, called for the nationalisation of network providers in Nigeria for effective management.
Speaking in Cross River, Efio-Ita Nyok, an MTN customer in Calabar, described the telecoms company in Nigeria as capitalist venture since they were only interested in their profit and not quality service delivery.
Nyok, who is a blogger, decried the recent hike in tariffs by the telecoms companies in the nation, and wondered why they were increasing the tariffs when they made a lot of profit.
He said that MTN Nigeria posted a huge profit sum last year which was a massive return on investment, stating that there was no justification for the increase as the companies were always making profit.
He expressed his disappointment at the tariffs increase without corresponding service improvements, saying that he lost a lot of businesses as his customers were unable to reach him due to an unending poor network connectivity.
“It is just like the service providers increased the tariff and did a downward review in the quality of service they provide to the Nigerian citizens which is adversely affecting the society,” he said.
Nyok called for another alternative telecom provider in Nigeria which would be more reliable as all the existing alternatives were the same in poor quality of service.
He queried the work of the Consumers Protection Agency when the network providers were milking Nigerians dry without commensurate quality of service, describing the situation as sad.
He then called on the Federal Government to wade into the matter and start the process of nationalising the firms as well as protect the interest of the citizenry.
On his part, Mr Frank Ulom, a blogger, also described the situation as sad while narrating how he was now spending between N20, 000 and N30, 000 monthly for the same gigabytes he previously spent N10, 000 on
According to him, it is now difficult for Nigerians to know the data or call cap as they can no longer measure the quantity of data or airtime you pay for.
“The most annoying is the increase in drop calls, break in transmission and the issue of peoples’ voices breaking up during a conversation; this is common with all the telecoms in Nigeria.
“I have reduced the rate at which I recharge my lines because, sometimes, I just feel it is useless but when I do, I spread it among all the networks I have so that I can switch between them when the network is poor,” he said.
Speaking in Rivers, Emmanuel John, a Vice-Chairman of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA ) Port Harcourt Branch, called on Federal Government to provide alternative telecommunication network services or revive Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL).
According to him, it’s saddened that almost all the networks in the telecommunications sector are not effectively serving the purpose for which they were established.
John, however, said that reviving NITEL would create more jobs, empowerment youths and alleviate the suffering of the people.
He stated that all Nigerians experience drop calls, and charges were deducted from each of those drop calls, adding that it gets worst as people cannot communicate effectively.
He cited the advanced countries where only one line was enough for network users to communicate, and said that such could not work in Nigeria as nobody or law penalises defaulting telecommunications companies on service delivery.
“I can tell you as I stand with you here, I have five different lines, I have all the networks, yet the networks are not favourable, they can’t even bail you out in emergency situations.
“I sent a message to a client in the morning and the message did not go through till about 4 p.m when the purpose for which the message was made had been overtaken by event.
“If you have a sick persons with health issues, and you want to communicate with your doctor, you find out that you can’t get through with the call because of poor network.
‘’It is really bad; government should do something about the poor network connections, put in place policies and regulations that will check the companies and penalise the defaulters.’’
The Legal Practitioner added that network providers in advanced countries, sometimes gave back their subscribers by paying them, offering them new phones just for using their network but in Nigeria ,they charged unnecessarily.
According to him, money is deducted from our network, from our data, yet we don’t have effective service which is too bad, the government have to call them to order.
‘’It has gotten to that level that class action is needed, we need to take them to court.
“If the government sanctions network providers defaulters, they will no longer increase their tariffs and impose on the public without prior information,” he said.
Also speaking, Mr Macdonald Ugwu, a Supervisor at Hardia Onshore, Port Harcourt, said that the telecoms networks in the country were far from meeting the expectations of the public in service provision.
Ugwu said that network connections were worst during festivals, and public holidays, barring communication between people and their relatives who travelled during the period.
He said they had disappointed Nigerians hugely, adding, ‘’sometimes, we hear that there is a lot of traffic, that’s why calls can’t go through, but this is rear in other countries.
“The network providers in this country are busy increasing their tariff not minding the poor network services they give to the public.
“You will be in an online meeting, the network will cut you off from the meeting, that’s a disgrace and embarrassing to the country; there is more room for improvement, we can still get it right.’’
Ugwu, however, re-echoed the call for government to provide an alternative network for Nigerians to have effective communications.
Also in Akwa Ibom, Mr Eket Edet, a subscriber in Eket, said that the hike in telecom tariffs affected communication habits, making some Nigerians to divert to internet-based calls, believing that data is cheaper.
He named the Internet-based apps being used for calls and messaging as WhatsApp, Zoom, Google Meet, and Telegram, and others.
He explained that some subscribers also explored public Wi-Fi connections in commercial hubs where customers were allowed to make data-based calls at lower costs.
Edet called on regulatory policies to assist in balancing the impact of rising costs, adding that the increase in tariff had influenced choices of the subscribers economically.
He said that at present, many subscribers were rationing their airtime usage by prioritising essential calls over casual conversations while businesses, especially the small and medium enterprises adjusted their budgets to accommodate the rising costs.
Edet decried the increase in the tariff, saying poor call quality, echoes in conversations, frequent call drops, and many others should have been addressed before the tariffs hike.
He condemned the interruptions during conversations which led to increased call repetitions and additional airtime expenditure.
He advised other subscribers who switched networks due to the increased to stop since the tariffs hike was done across all providers uniformly.
Edet also added that the subscribers were opting for multiple networks to take advantage of bonuses and cheaper call rates from different service providers.
Also speaking, Mr Etoro-obong Inyang, telecommunications technician in Uyo, said that the recent hike in all categories of services by network providers nationwide had affected subscribers adversely.
He explained that the hike in tariff had not improved the quality of calls, instead subscribers had been grappling with poor services despite the increase.
Inyang frowned at the insensitivity of the telecoms providers to the plight of the citizens.
According to him, before now, a recharge card of N100 could take you a day’s call but now, you have to pay double or more for the same call duration.
“Before, N4 is charged for text messages but now it is N6 for messages and N30 is charged for calls per minute,” he lamented.
Also speaking, Mrs Ekaette Otu, a subscriber in Uyo, lamented that the 50 per cent increase in tariff had increased the financial burden of the students who are undergoing online programmes.
“The cost of data increase from N4,000 to N6,500 monthly subscription is high;
some subscribers are exploring alternative data plans or switching provider.’’
She said that the options often came with limitations such as slower speeds and reduced data caps.
Otu said that the people would automatically maximise or adjust to reduce frequency duration of their calls to minimize the high costs.
She explained that the reduction in call frequency and duration could be attributed to various factors such as, changes in user behavior, cost sensitivity and alternative communication method.
She outlined the major network issues faced by subscribers in Nigeria to include, very high poor network coverage, call hang-up, slow data speed, unreliable connections, network congestion, high traffic, poor audio or voice call quality.
“There is also poor customer service from telecom operators, making it so difficult to resolve urgent issues promptly.
“A bank transaction for purchase of recharge card and the subscriber will be debited and yet credit will be pending for a week and more without any reverse,” she said.
Otu said that most Nigerians subscribers were currently facing this network issues and advised the government to address the current telecoms hike by providing alternative providers.
She stated that it had been the responsibility of the government to protect consumer interests, especially when it comes to essential services like telecoms.
Otu suggested that the government could promote competitions among the operators which could lead to better services and more affordable tariff.
She said that a reliable and affordable telecom infrastructure was crucial for economic development and the government could play a vital role in ensuring the infrastructure was in place for adequate usage.
Another subscriber, Mr Inemesit Akpansoh, also called of the Federal Government to prevail on operators of telecoms to improve their services and defaulters should be sanctioned by withdrawing their licenses.(NAN)
