The Nigerian Communications Commission says about 10 million
subscribers have activated the Do-Not-Disturb code made available by the
agency......
The Do-Not-Disturb service allows network subscribers to opt
out of unsolicited third-party marketing messages such as bulk Short Message
Service, Value Added Service promos and calls.
Speaking at the fifth meeting of the National Council of
Communications and Information Technology in Katsina, the Executive Vice
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta,
said only 500,000 telecom subscribers had activated the NCC’s 2442 short code
to stop telemarketing and other unsolicited text messages on their phones
before the commencement of the campaign.
The EVC also said the regulatory body would review the
implementation of the consumer initiative project next year in order to decide
the next line of action.
“We embarked on the campaign specifically with regard to two
important issues. One is, Do-Not-Disturb facility as we had received a lot of
complaints that many consumers received unsolicited text messages and for which
they were unfairly being charged. We dedicated a facility that will stop those
messages from coming to the handsets of the consumers,” he told dignitaries at
the event including the Minister Communications, Adebayo Shittu, and the Katsina State Deputy
Governor, Mannir Yakubu.
Danbatta said, “We have been sensitising consumers to take
advantage of this facility by sending STOP to 2442. Prior to the commencement
of the campaign, less than 500,000 Nigerians activated the code; as I am
talking to you now, close to 10 million Nigerians have activated it.”
He said the other component of the campaign was to sensitise
Nigerians to the existence of the NCC’s toll-free line, 622, which consumers
could use to lodge complaints with regard to quality of service and other
related services.
“There’s also another important aspect of the campaign,
educating the consumers on the existence of emergency call centres. One is
being constructed in each state of the federation in order to provide reprieve
to people in distress; those who require ambulance service, fire-fighting services;
and those in need of attention from the police, using another toll-free line,
112,” he said.
In the commission’s newly released Value Added Services
Aggregator Framework, all network operators have been asked to protect
subscribers from unwanted and unauthorised value added services and made it
mandatory for them to create a database for phone numbers of subscribers on the
Do-Not-Disturb list.
The regulator said operators and aggregators should ensure
that no adverts were sent to the telephone numbers on the database.
On the other hand, the commission said operators and content
service providers were free to create opt-in database for registration of
telephone numbers of subscribers who were not opposed to advertisements.
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