Nigerian Communications Commission has stated that it would sanction MTN, Airtel and Globacom for defying its directive on automatic migration to Pay-As-You-Go data bundle.
The commission said it had continued to receive complaints from subscribers on automatic migration of data bundle package to Pay-As-You-Go billing upon the depletion of their data bundle.
“Consequently and pursuant to section 53(1) of the NCA 2003, the commission on the 3rd of August, 2015 directed all mobile service operators to comply with the data bundle directives. That where a subscriber’s data bundle account is fully depleted before the due date, the service providers should notify the subscriber via SMS, giving information regarding the tariff/billing rate for automatic migration,” it said in a statement.
“Globacom is in compliance with Direction No. 1 as subscribers receive SMS detailing the tariff rates for auto-migration on depletion of their data bundles. However, Globacom failed to obtain express consent from the subscribers before migration to PAYG and, therefore, (was) in violation of Direction No. 2.
“MTN is in compliance with Direction No.1, but failed to highlight the tariff rate for PAYG billing. In addition, data service is not suspended upon the depletion of the data bundle account even without an authorisation via an SMS from the subscriber.
“Airtel is not in compliance with the above directions. Consequent upon the above, the commission has issued a notice of intention to sanction the concerned service providers.”
Etisalat was blameless as it complied with the directive, NCC added.
