NCC directs telcos to provide instant call bills

Ben Uzor Jr

In a move to curb subscriber complaints over billing irregularities, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on Wednesday mandated all telecommunications operators to provide instant SMS service to all phone users at the end of every call, and to provide full details of the cost of each call, and available balances to the subscriber. This service, according to the commission is free to all subscribers with the commencement date for all the operators fixed for November 1, 2012. A  statement signed by Reuben Mouka, head, media and public relation, NCC, declared that "any operator which fails to commence the service to its subscribers  will be liable to fine in the sum of N5,000,000 (Five Million) as sanction and a further sum of N500,000  (Five Hundred Thousand Naira) per day as long as the contravention persists."

The Commission has in a direction issued since August 2012, mandated “that from 1st of November, 2012, all mobile operators shall send, free of charge, a message or an alert to both postpaid and prepaid subscribers after every call, SMS, or system generated charge or tariff, with a proviso that a subscriber can opt out if he or she so wishes”, the statement said. The Direction, according to statement,  mandates the "subscribers to send messages containing six critical information including: Exact duration of the Call Minutes and Seconds, Total Cost for each Call or SMS; Customer Accounts Balance after the last call for prepaid and SMS; Customer Account Balance after a charge or tariff and the reason for the charge or tariff; Cumulative call charges up to the last call within the charging period for postpaid customers; Cost of services and Credit balance upon request by customer for data service."

The Direction issued to the operators is in line with the provisions of Section 53(1) of the Nigerian Communications Act, 2003. This direction is a response to one of the major concerns of the subscribers as it relates to the actual amounts deducted from their credit balances by the service providers for each call or SMS sent.  With this direction, according to Mouka, subscribers are empowered to promptly discover any anomaly in their bills. This, he went further will be able to prove if they are billed for calls that they did not make.