Emmanuel Aziken And Laide Akinboade
15 January 2008
The National Assembly is set to amend the law establishing the National Communications Commission (NCC) to enforce sanctions that would compel improved quality of service in the GSM networks.
The disclosure at a stakeholders' meeting convened by the Senate and House of Representatives Committees on Communication came upon condemnations of the GSM companies for parading outdated technology in the country.
Senator Sylvester Anyanwu, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Communication who chaired yesterday's session with the chief executive officers of the four major networks and government officials particularly lampooned them for trumpeting the 3G technology in Nigeria as a new technology in the world.
Present at yesterday's interactive session were Committee members from the two chambers, the Minister of Information and Communication, Mr. John Odey, the Executive Vice-Chairman of the NCC, Ernest Ndukwe and executives from the four major networks.
They included Bayo Ligali CEO, Celtel, Mr. Carl Toriola, Chief technical Officer of MTN, Chief Executive Officer MTEL, Mr. Ladi Williams and Mr. Mohammed Jammel, Globalcom. Opening the meeting yesterday, Senator Anyanwu said:
"This meeting is called for us to address the embarrassing fall in the quality of services provided by all GSM operators in the country. Things have been going from bad to worse. Nigerians hear about the huge profits the operators make annually but none of them could use that money to provide enough facilities to enhance their services.
"All the excuses being given by the GSM firms can't stand because we know that they have not been very sensitive to the plights of Nigerians as they have been to their businesses. For God's sake, let your businesses have human face. Suggestions have been made about the need to amend the NCC Act to empower it to impose very serious sanctions against erring service providers in the industry. All we are asking of you is to give Nigerians quality for their money."
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Vanguard. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
