Nigerian Operators Banned from Promotional Adverts

Nigeria's telecoms regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has imposed a blanket ban on all the GSM network operators banning them from adverts which rely on promotional tools to attract new customers.

The move follows ongoing complaints about network quality from customers and allegations that the networks are adding customers faster than the network expansion can cope with them.

The move is also a blow for the local marketing industry, which earns a substantial percentage of their income from the mobile phone companies.

While MTN and Celtel had been previously banned from offering inducements to new subscribers, they were allowed to continue brand-building exercises. Now all the GSM networks have been affected by the same ban. However, it is not clear if ongoing promotions - such as the random raffle to win one of 500 cars by Glo Mobile - would also have to be suspended.

Head of Public Affairs, NCC, Dave Imoko, said in a statement that new GSM QoS testing equipment just acquired by the telecoms regulator has shown that all GSM sector players have allegedly run foul of the minimum threshold set by the regulator, saying that they "were grossly in default on several key performance indicators for ascertaining quality of service."

Imoko said that following the new revelations, a fresh blanket ban has been imposed barring GSM operators from sales promotions that may add more subscribers to their congested networks.

"This directive affects ongoing promotions, or any new promotions yet to be embarked upon by any of the operators as the results of the tests carried out in some parts of the country has been very unsatisfactory", he added in a statement issued last week on behalf of NCC. According to Imoko, NCC finds "the level of performance of the GSM networks in some parts of the country where tests were already completed to be very poor and unacceptable.

"All the major GSM operators were grossly in default on several key performance indicators for ascertaining quality of service."

Posted to the site on 13th February 2008