Senate probes MTN, Airtel, others over airtime losses
The Senate has ordered an investigation into alleged arbitrary airtime deductions by telecommunications operators for failed, dropped, and prematurely terminated calls, giving its Committee on Communications four weeks to determine the financial losses subscribers have suffered.
The resolution followed growing complaints from Nigerians who lose airtime on calls that fail to connect, disconnect shortly after connection or are interrupted by poor network services.
*Senate
Etim Ekpimah
The Senate has ordered an investigation into alleged arbitrary airtime deductions by telecommunications operators for failed, dropped, and prematurely terminated calls, giving its Committee on Communications four weeks to determine the financial losses subscribers have suffered.
The resolution followed growing complaints from Nigerians who lose airtime on calls that fail to connect, disconnect shortly after connection or are interrupted by poor network services.
The motion, sponsored by the Senate Chief Whip, Senator Tahir Monguno, was presented by the Deputy Senate Leader and seconded by Senator Ned Nwoko, representing Delta North.
Supporting the motion, Nwoko described the problem as widespread, saying virtually every telecommunications subscriber had experienced the frustration of being charged for calls disrupted by network failures.
He said the investigation was necessary to protect consumers from avoidable financial losses caused by poor service delivery.
“This is a well-thought-out motion. It is very straightforward. It is all about consumer protection. We need to make this particular motion at this critical time because a lot of the time, everybody is involved in the use of calls, making calls across the country, and we all experience the same technical issues,” Nwoko said.
During consideration of the motion, the Deputy Minority Leader proposed that the Senate adopt only its sixth prayer, arguing that it sufficiently covered the issues raised in the preceding five. The amendment, seconded by Senator Benios Yaro, representing Adamawa South, was adopted through a voice vote presided over by Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
Reading the resolution, Akpabio said the Committee on Communications had been mandated to invite the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and relevant telecommunications operators to investigate complaints involving failed, dropped and prematurely terminated calls, as well as questionable billing practices.
The committee is expected to establish the financial losses incurred by subscribers and submit its findings, alongside recommendations for legislative and regulatory action, within four weeks.
The investigation will cover the billing practices of MTN Nigeria, Globacom, Airtel and T2 Mobile. It will also examine proposals for an accessible complaints and redress mechanism, automatic refunds for verifiably failed calls, independent technical audits of operators’ billing systems and stricter enforcement of quality-of-service standards.
Akpabio urged the committee, chaired by Senator Bill Bills, to begin work immediately, warning that the Senate could assume direct responsibility for the investigation if its report failed to meet expectations.
He described the four-week deadline as lengthy but said the committee had been given sufficient time to complete its assignment.
“If in four weeks they don’t satisfy us, then we have to take it as a Committee of the Whole and invite all the operators, in addition to the Minister overseeing the NCC and also the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, to ask these pertinent questions,” he said.
The Senate President said subscribers’ complaints could no longer be ignored, particularly as Nigerians continued to lose money for services that were poorly delivered or not provided at all.
“The public is complaining, and our job here is to make sure that we tackle the concerns of the Nigerian public and also the losses they suffer that are actually avoidable,” Akpabio said.
He also expressed concern over possible weaknesses in regulatory supervision, stressing the need to hold both telecommunications operators and the NCC accountable for persistent service failures.
The probe is expected to determine whether wrongful deductions result from technical failures, defective billing systems or lapses in regulatory enforcement.
Its findings could pave the way for stronger consumer protection measures, improved monitoring of telecommunications operators, more effective complaint-resolution channels and refunds for subscribers where improper deductions are established.
