..How NCC’s handling of 9Mobile, Airtel’s DND contravention cautioned players’
Contravention of the Directive on Do Not Disturb (DND) By 9Mobile (EMTS) and Airtel
In the course of monitoring compliance with the Do-Not-Disturb (DND) Direction, the Commission discovered that EMTS (9Mobile) & Airtel subscribed and billed 13 and 56 MSISDNs respectively on full DND to Value Added Service (VAS). This contravened the DND Directive.
Accordingly, Commission communicated with the licensees who claimed that contravention was caused by technical and software challenges. Their pleas were rejected by the Commission and they were consequently sanctioned to pay ₦5, 000,000 each on February 26th and 27th, 2019, respectively for breach of the Directive.
Within the period under review, NCC issued approval allowing resumption of traffic with Solid Interconnectivity Service Limited
In consideration of responses received from Solid Interconnect which includes the renewal of its Interconnect Exchange (IEX) license, the Commission via a letter dated January 17, 2019 directed Globacom to reconnect Solid Interconnect and allow the routing of traffic. However, the Commission received a letter from Solid Interconnectivity stating that notwithstanding approval by the Commission, Globacom is delaying the process of re-establishing interconnection with its network. Consequently, a pre-enforcement notice dated March 5, 2019 was issued to Globacom directing it to reconnect solid and allow the routing of traffic on or before March 15, 2019.
Also before the end of 2019, NCC smoked out unknown Fibre Optic Cable At Victoria Island, Lagos
The Commission received a letter from NAIRDA Limited notifying the Commission of a fibre optic cable causing an obstruction at the company’s construction site at Victoria Island, Lagos. Commission then contacted all the MNOs and Metropolitan Cable Network Operators but no one claimed ownership of the said cable. In this regard, NAIRDA sought the Commission’s consent to relocate the cable at no cost to the Commission.
Subsequently, 21st century Technologies Ltd, claimed ownership of the cable and have engaged NAIRDA on steps taken to relocate the cable.
In 2019 also, the Commission received a complaint about automatic renewal of data subscription by 9Mobile on MSISDN (08024211885). The complaint was investigated and 9Mobile was found to have breached the Direction on Automatic Renewal of Data subscription.
However, 9mobile attributed the breach to a previously undetected and isolated failure on its data subscription platform. The reason offered by 9Mobile was not acceptable by the Commission. Accordingly, a notice of sanction dated March 19, 2019 was sent to 9mobile to pay a fine of the sum of ₦5, 001, 000.00.
