Minister tasks telecom operators on masking, drop calls

The Minister of Communications, Mr Adebayo Shittu, has charged telecom operators and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to stop call masking and investigate its origin.

A statement issued in Abuja recently by Mr Henshaw Ogbuke, Deputy Director Press in the Ministry, said Shittu gave the advice at a meeting with telecom operators over increasing rate of drop calls and other unwholesome practices.

He said the directive followed a correspondence he received from the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation on call masking by telecommunication network providers in Nigeria.

Shittu said also that the Senate had passed resolutions on the issues, as such there was urgent need for the service providers and regulatory agency to intervene.

He, therefore, enjoined NCC to investigate and invoke appropriate provisions of the law and other extant agreements to protect consumers and refund them henceforth for disrupted calls caused by network issues.

The minister said that consumers should also be allowed to have more control over their usage of data bundles as practiced by telecom operators in countries like Kenya and South Africa.

Shittu said that NCC, Consumer Protection Council, Standards Organisation of Nigeria and other regulatory agencies should effectively supervise telecom service providers, to ensure regulatory excellence.