The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) received a total of 4,304 complaints concerning unsolicited telemarketing, both voice and text, within nine months, Mr Ayoola Oke, the Chief Executive Officer of ICT Derivatives Ltd, has said.
Oke made this known at the 4th Quarter Meeting/Open Forum of the Industry Consumer Advisory Forum (ICAF) on Thursday in Lagos.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of the forum is: “Do-Not-Disturb (DND): Panacea To Unsolicited Messages”.
He said that the complaints were received from telecommunications consumers through ‘Walk-in, Outreach Events, Letters, Emails, Consumer Web Portal (CWP) and the Call Centre (622).
According to him, in the first quarter of 2016, the regulatory body received a total of 2,325 complaints on unwanted and disturbing telemarketing.
He said that of the 2,325 complaints, 13 were through walk-in to NCC’s centre, outreach events and letters from telecommunications subscribers, 28 were through emails and CWP, while 2,284 were received through 622 toll free calls to NCC’s call centre.
Oke said that in 2nd quarter, 629 unsolicited text and calls complaints were received, which included 12 walk-in, outreach events and letters to the regulatory body.
They also included 54 complaints through emails and CWP, as well as 563 complaints received through calls.
He said that in the third quarter, a total of 1,350 complaints on issues of unsolicited telemarketing were received.
“Sixteen were through walk-in to the commission’s centre, outreach events and letters, 62 complaints were through emails and CWP, while 1,272 were through calling 622 to the call centre.
“In summary, 41 complaints were through walk-in, outreach events and letters, 144 were through emails and CWP, then 4,119 unsolicited telemarketing complaints were through calling 622, which is the code for the NCC call centre,” Oke said.
He noted that the commission had been inundated with several complaints from consumers on the menace of unsolicited messages (voice/SMS).
“Based on this, a direction on ”Do-Not-Disturb (DND)” was issued to telecommunications service providers to dedicate a common short code (2442) to consumers.
“Consumers are encouraged to send SMS to determine the type of Value Added Service (VAS) messages they want to receive, if any; aimed at reducing the number of occurrences,” Oke said.
