Telecom subscribers to get refunds for network failure, by Okoh Aihe

Early in the new year, the telecoms industry seems to have grown a healthy appetite to accommodate a perennial discomfort by subscribers. More than discomfort, the accommodation actually returns the money spent by subscribers on every failed activity initiated on the network, whether voice or data.

This really provides some comfort. Even with all the progress recorded in the industry, the subscriber has always held the short end of the stick; faced frustrations at every quality attenuating movement on the network, when there is power failure, quarrel over diesel supply, when there is vandalisation or when failure emanates from the infrastructure weakness of the operator, the subscriber suffers and grumbles over an operator that seems only to care about his cash contributions. 

There are drop calls and there are data snaps or even accelerated data depletions, the subscriber bears the headache, like the chameleon that has developed the big head to carry the family’s large worries. 

Not anymore, as the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, and the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, are set to roll out a Refund Framework for failed airtime and data transactions. Operators must now have to return monies not duly or if you like rewards from subscribers’ frustrations. 

A statement released by the NCC says that “in line with the consumer-focused objectives of the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, and the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, the two regulators have drawn up a framework to address consumer complaints arising from unsuccessful airtime and data transactions during network downtimes, system glitches, or human input errors.”

This was long in coming. The NCC statement signed by Nnenna Ukoha, Head, Public Affairs, affirmed that ‘’the framework is the outcome of several months of engagements involving the NCC, the CBN, Mobile Network Operators, MNOs; Value Added Service, VAS; providers; Deposit Money Banks, DMBs; and other relevant stakeholders.”

‘’These engagements,’’ the statement continued, ‘’were prompted by a rising incidence of failed airtime and data purchases, where subscribers were debited without receiving value and experienced delays in resolution.’’

There is no hanky-panky business here or subterranean transactions. Everybody involved in the value chain went into discussions with their eyes well opened in order to solve a major problem in the industry. 

A major meat in the framework is that where a purchaser is debited but fails to receive value for airtime or data – whether the failure occurs at the bank level or with an NCC licensee – the purchaser is entitled to a refund within 30 seconds, except in circumstances where the transaction remains pending, of which the refund can take up to 24 hours. 

The statement looks very simple but implementation looks more like rocket science. How monies received by operators who are more of penny pinchers than business people, for some people, will remain a challenge. 

But Freda Bruce-Bennett, Director of Consumer Affairs at the NCC, explained that the framework which becomes operational from March 1, 2026, has adequate provision and solution for every little transactional problem that may confront the subscriber. The document, she said, is well-thought out.  

In her own explanation, the framework also establishes a Central Monitoring Dashboard to be jointly hosted by the NCC and the CBN. The dashboard will enable both regulators to monitor failures, the responsible party, refunds, and track Service Level Agreement, SLA, breaches in real time. 

Freda harbours no doubt whether the system will work or not, as unfolding evidence demonstrates that ‘’so far, pending the approval of management of both regulators on the framework, MNOs and banks have collectively made refunds of over N10billion to customers for failed transactions.’’

That is not a bad start at all. The consumer has long been taken as king. Both the NCC and the CBN have gone beyond words to put it in action. There have been other consumer-centric measures taken in the past, like operators reporting faults immediately it happens so as to protect subscribers, but the framework stands shoulders above them all. 

The telecom business is a complex operation which relies on consumers to build network size and returns. And this makes the consumer to take some centrality in the ladder of importance anywhere in the world.

In some jurisdictions, there are national regulations and voluntary industry schemes which often provide automatic financial compensation for significant, prolonged service disruptions. For instance, in the UK and Belgium, major telecom providers participate in schemes that automatically compensate customers for specific problems without the customer even needing to formally complain. 

Always, the regulator takes decisions to give protection to subscribers and shield them from the predatory practices of the operator. The regulator protects the subscriber and his funds on the network and also provides the necessary safeguards against a swindle. 

The NCC embarked on some key regulatory measures last year aimed at boosting the security and protection of the telecoms subscribers. Such measures include: mandatory tariff simplification geared towards encouraging operators to communicate bundles and tariffs in such an easy way for the subscriber to understand, and a public release of network performance reports based on crowd-sourced data, and data-driven regulation to empower consumer and drive accountability in the operators. 

However, the Refund Framework seems to be about the most direct effort yet for the telecoms regulator and, thankfully, the CBN, to ensure that the telecoms subscriber doesn’t remain in the seamy side of the business but to remain in the sun where every effort and investment in voice and data gives him the best returns or the operator will have to return the money pronto. That is the way to go. 

My prayer is that the implementation will be as swift and painstaking as the efforts invested by the various stakeholders in hammering out the Refund Framework. 

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