Senate tackles telecom operators over poor services

Fred Itua, Abuja

The Senate, yesterday, lamented over allegations of unwholesome practices and poor services leveled against telecommunications companies. It warned that those found responsible, including regulators must be brought to book.

The Senate issued the threat when it considered and passed a motion tagged “The increasing rate of dropped calls and other unwholesome practices by telecommunication network operators in Nigeria that have robbed subscribers of their hard earned billions of naira”.

The motion was sponsored by Abdulfatai Buhari and 34 others.

President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, who presided, said lawmakers will blacklist any mobile firm accused of these practices, noting that the situation is unacceptable considering the profits they are making from customers.

Lawan said: “I have listened to the frustrations expressed by some of our colleagues that we can only bark, but we can’t bite.

“We are going to bark and bite this time around. We will definitely do the right thing, even if it requires blacklisting an operator, we will go for that. With this, I think it will be an effort in the right direction by the Senate to protect Nigerians, that is why we are here.” While leading debate, Buhari had lamented the high rate of dropped calls situations and poor voice quality despite the fact that subscribers are heavily charged.

He also noted the disturbing and increasing rate at which data bundles expiration forcing Nigerians to lose billions of naira to inefficient and poor services.

The Senate, therefore, condemned the poor services of mobile telecommunication giants and urge the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), to be alive to its responsibility by ensuring sanity in the sector.

The Red Chamber also said it would carry out an investigative public hearing to address the disturbing phenomenon.