17 December 2007
Lagos — Ordinarily, Nigerians should join the nation's telecoms operators in celebrating the geometric rise in the volume of patronage which telecoms operators have enjoyed in the last six years. With a subscribers' base rising from 40,000 to as much as 46.2 million in six years, the telecoms operators must be smiling to the bank on a daily basis. Of the said number, the GSM service providers account for 43,593,310 while the fixed wire/wireless lines account for the rest. That Nigeria has a huge market has been verily proven by the market explosion recorded by the telephone service providers. But Nigerians can hardly join in the celebration given the dismal service the operators inflict on them.
Perhaps desperate to recoup their investments, the GSM operators have been in a frenzy in launching several marketing strategies which paid up by way of explosion in patronage. It was not for nothing. Tortured by the huge cost, inefficiency and fraud-ridden operations of the Nigeria Telecommunications Plc, the wide and warm embrace Nigerians gave the GSM services was understandable. In no time, the volume of patronage began to swell and spread.
And so, the operators began to reap bountifully from the patronage of Nigerians who had, previously, seen access to telephone services as an exclusive preserve of only the rich.
It is this aversion to NITEL that has understandably plunged the fortunes of the outfit resulting in the drastic drop of its subscribers' base from 40,000 in Year 2001 to just 70,000 today. So, the fall of NITEL has become the harvest of the GSM providers.
But the telecoms operators rather than expand their networks and facilities to accommodate the growing subscribers base, expansion schemes remained very low or technically inadequate, with the consequence of traffic congestion on the networks, which directly affected the service efficiency. For instance, the 43 million GSM subscribers are serviced only from 10,000 GSM base stations and only 2,000 Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). This is abysmally low, and one reason why the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) had to ban the operators from continuing the promotional campaigns which were expected to bring in more subscribers with the attendant consequence of complicating an already bad situation.
That explains why today, Nigerians are groaning in the hands of the service providers, while the GSM operators offer poor and frustrating service.
The operators in defiance of all known standards and operational codes, have continued to treat Nigerian customers with defiance and scant regard. In recent times, the frequency of drop-calls have steadily been on the increase. Calls are hardly properly concluded. All manners of errors ranging from call diversion to unintended persons, inability to gain access to the networks, poor audio, sms delayed (or no )delivery etc characterize the service of the GSM providers. The complaint of "network" has become a routine language, even on the lips of villagers.
And attempts by the NCC to intervene on behalf of the customers have been routinely defied by the GSM operators. For instance, the directive that the operators should refund some money to customers unduly charged or charged for services not rendered has been challenged by the operators in the court, while the irresponsible and poor service continue. These signs of impunity are no longer acceptable. Some of the GSM providers cannot and will not practise some of these negligent acts in their home countries without earning severe sanctions. Nigeria and Nigerians can therefore not be treated as if we do not deserve better service delivery.
The NCC must thus enforce all internationally accepted codes and regulations and guarantee that Nigerians get value for money.
All said, we expect NITEL to wake up from its slumber, lease some of its infrastructure like fibre optic network to other operators while it puts its acts together.
In the same way, the GSM operators must draw a good balance between the advantages of Nigeria's huge market and the imperatives of improved service delivery. The acceptable standards cannot be lowered in Nigeria.
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"It is this aversion to NITEL that has understandably plunged the fortunes of the outfit resulting in the drastic drop of its subscribers' base from 40,000 in Year 2001 to just 70,000 today. So, the fall of NITEL has become the harvest of the GSM providers."
I am wondering why "drastic drop of..subscribers' base from 40,000 in Year 2001 to just 70,000 today" is considered a drop. Can someone explain the calculation? Thanks.