The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have drawn up a framework to address consumer complaints arising from unsuccessful airtime and data transactions.
The NCC’s Head of Public Affairs, Nnenna Ukoha said this in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.
Ukoha said that said that these failed transactions happen during network downtimes, system glitches, or human input errors.
She said that the framework was the outcome of several months of engagements involving the NCC, the CBN, Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), Value Added Service (VAS) providers, Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), and other relevant stakeholders.
“These engagements were prompted by a rising incidence of failed airtime and data purchases, where subscribers were debited without receiving value and experienced delays in resolution.
“The framework represents a unified position by both the telecommunications and financial sectors on addressing such complaints.
“It identifies and tackles the root causes of failed airtime and data transactions, including instances where bank accounts are debited without successful delivery of services,” she said
She said that it also prescribed an enforceable Service Level Agreement (SLA) for MNOs and DMBs, clearly outlining the roles and responsibilities of each stakeholder in the transaction and resolution process.
She said that going by the new framework, whether failure occurs at the bank level or with an NCC licensee, the purchaser is entitled to a refund within 30 seconds.
“Except in circumstances where the transaction remains pending, of which the refund can take up to 24 hours,” she said
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Ukoha said that the framework further mandated operators to notify consumers via SMS of the success or failure of every transaction.
“It also addresses erroneous recharges to ported lines, incorrect airtime or data purchases, and instances where transactions are made to the wrong phone number,” she said
Speaking on the development, the Director of Consumer Affairs at the NCC, Mrs Freda Bruce-Bennett, said that the framework also establishes a Central Monitoring Dashboard to be jointly hosted by the NCC and the CBN.
According to her, the dashboard will enable both regulators to monitor failures, the responsible party, refunds, and track SLA breaches in real time.
Bruce-Bennett said that failed top-ups ranked among the top three consumer complaint
She said that in line with the commitment to addressing these priority issues, there were determination to resolve it within the shortest possible time.
“We are grateful to all stakeholders, particularly the CBN and its leadership for their tireless commitment to resolving this issue and arriving at this framework,” she said.
She also thanked the stakeholders for ensuring that consumers of telecommunications services receive full value for their purchases.
“So far, pending the approval of management of both regulators on the framework, MNOs and banks have collectively made refunds of over N10 billion to customers for failed transactions.”
She said that implementation of the framework was expected to commence on March 1, once the two regulators make final approvals, and technical integration by all MNOs, VAS providers and DMBs is concluded.
