NCC asks telcos to give customers 14-day grace period for data usage

Umar Danbatta, executive vice chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), says all telecommunications operators must give customers a 14-day grace period to exhaust their remaining data after 30 days.

The monthly data subscription of all the telecommunication operators in the country gives customers a 30-day period to exhaust their subscription or roll-over unused data by subscribing for another 30 data before the expiration of the previous one.

Hellen Obi, who represented Danbatta at the consumers’ conversation forum in Minna, Niger state, made this known on Thursday.

She advised the consumers to call NCC on their toll-free line, 622, if their complaints are not resolved by their network providers, assuring them that the commission would take up the matter and resolve it.

“NCC has mandated all network providers to give their subscribers 14 days of grace after the 30 days expiration of their data if they still have data left and cannot recharge to get their data rolled over,” she said.

“The commission which is the independent regulatory authority for the telecommunications industry in Nigeria declared year 2017 as NCC year of the telecom consumer in recognition of the importance of the consumer to the phenomenal growth and development in the telecoms sector.

“The year of telecom consumer, which was formally launched by NCC executive vice chairman/CEO, Danbatta, is in tandem with the 8-point agenda of the commission aimed to protect, educate, and empower consumers towards ensuring sustainable growth and further development in the telecom sector.”

Obi said the consumers’ conversation fora was organised around the country to educate consumers about their rights and privileges with their service providers.

She revealed that the NCC had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which mandates the CBN to advise the banks on enlightenment of their customers on fake messages that request them to send their bank verification number (BVN) or account details.