Promos: Regulator lifts ban on GSM operators

Telecommunications regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has lifted the ban on promotions among the operators of the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM).

Head, Public Affairs at NCC, Mr. Dave Imoko, confirmed this in a press statement made available to Champion Infotel, last weekend.

NCC also cautioned the operators to shun promotions that could lead to poor quality of service to the consumer.

This, Imoko said, would attract more stringent ban in the near future for at least six months.

“As this would henceforth attract more stringent ban that will not be subject to review by the Commission for at least six months,” he warned.

Equally NCC advised operators to maintain acceptable level of compliance to the Key Performance Indicators published by the Commission especially with respect to Traffic Channel Congestion (TCC).

Champion Infotel recalls that the warning followed the lifting of the ban on promotions imposed on MTN and Zain with effect from September 15, 2008. Even as NCC had on June 14, 2007, banned promotion on both networks based on unacceptable level of compliance to the Key Performance Indicators on quality of service.

NCC further said the lifting of the ban was on the condition that the two operators continue to “exercise self control and not engage in any promotion that would lead to congestion of the network or deterioration of quality of service generally.”

In addition, the Commission said that before embarking on any major promotions; all the operators would now be required to submit an impact analysis of such promotion on its network with respect to compliance with Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) as set by the Commission.

“They will also be required to state the duration of such promotions,” Imoko said.
Pointing out that it is not its intention to micro-manage any operator’s business, stressing that its primary responsibility is to protect the consumer and ensure that services are provided at optimum level of quality.


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