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Apex telecommunications regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) have denied the alleged blocking of Blackberry services in the country.
Making a
rebuttal of the rumours making a round that NCC alongside the chief executive
officers of the mobile operating companies in the country met recently and
decided to block or disrupt the services Blackberry to avoid its usage for the
on-going protest against the removal of fuel subsidy by the Federal Government
(FG), the Director, Public Affairs at NCC, Mr. Tony Ojobo said that there was
no such meeting in the first instance.
He also
said that there was no such decision in whatever many to deny Nigerians the
services of Blackberry, purportedly to avoid the spread of protests by some
aggrieved Nigerians over the removal of fuel subsidy and increase in petroleum
pump price from N65 to N145.
According
to him, the attention of NCC has been drawn to an information making rounds
that NCC had at a meeting on Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012 agreed with
CEOs of telecommunications networks to shutdown Blackberry services in order to
allegedly deny Nigerians the use of that very important social network.
He said
the management hereby states categorically that there was never such a meeting
held, nor was there ever a resolution to shut down Blackberry services.
“The
public is pleased advised to disregard such information,” he declared in a
public statement made available to ITRealms Online on Wednesday.
Equally,
Ojobo said the NCC enjoined the network operators to continue to provide all
telecommunications services, including Blackberry services without fail.
Confirming
NCC’s position in a reaction to the issue of service disruption on Blackberry,
the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON)
denied any such plans to shut down Blackberry services in the country.
The
administrative secretary, ALTON, Mr. Gbolahan Oshonubi in response to inquiries
via Short Messaging Service (SMS), said subscribers in the country should not
worry, especially those on Blackberry offering that the service would not be
disrupted in any guess.
“ALTON
wishes to reassure all subscribers that Blackberry Internet Service (BIS) has
not been shut down,” he said.
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| Mrs. Johnson, ICT Minister |
Additionally,
he said, ALTON members’ have not received any directive from any quarter to
shut down Blackberry services.
Oshonubi
noted that as telecoms service providers, serving millions of Nigerian people,
ALTON’s priority is to provide stable quality telecommunications services to
subscribers.
“This
will continue to be our focus for 2012,” he said.
Equally,
Chief
Operating Officer and Executive Director, Airtel Networks Limited, Mr. Deepak
Srivastava, has said joint forces with NCC and ALTON to state that it has not
shutdown Blackberry services.
“Airtel Networks Limited wishes to inform all its esteemed customers that
it has no plan to shut down its Blackberry Services,” he said in a press
statement Wednesday evening.
Also, he
pointed out that Airtel have not received any instruction from any quarters to
shut down the Blackberry Services. Stressing they would continue to offer
service to all customers.
“Indeed,
we remain committed to offering innovative services and also empowering more
Nigerians to connect with friends, family members and business associates. We
encourage you to take advantage of our new Blackberry packages cum offers,” he
said, even as he reassured that Airtel is very passionate about realizing its vision
of being the most loved brand in the daily lives of Nigerians and will continue
to enrich Nigerians with world-class telecommunications services including
Blackberry services.
Remmy Nweke
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D
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