The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has ordered all telecommunications companies (telcos) to block stolen subscriber identification module (SIM) cards within five minutes of receiving a report from subscribers.
In a recent publication ‘Quality of Service Business Rules,’ issued in August 2024, the NCC said any further usage should not be chargeable to the subscriber from the moment the report is filed.
It also introduced new standards aimed at improving customer service in the telecommunications sector, some of which stipulate minimum service standards, associated measurements and key performance indicators (KPIs) for telecom operators.
Among the critical mandates included in the new rules is that telcos must ensure subscribers are attended to within 30 minutes of their arrival at service centres and that the licensee shall provide means of measuring the waiting time, starting from the time of arrival at the premises.
For customer service interactions, the NCC said customers must speak with live personnel within five minutes.
“Maximum number of call-attempts before connecting to customer care lines should not be more than three (3) times.
“Maximum number of rings before a call is answered by either an IVR machine or a live agent should not be more than five,” the commission said.
The NCC also said where a customer decides to speak to a live agent, the maximum duration allowable on the queue/IVR should be 5 minutes before answer and that in exceptional cases where live agent may be unavailable within 5 minutes to answer the call, a customer should be given an option of hanging up to be called back within a maximum time of 30 minutes.
