Nigeria's National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers (NATCOMS) called for a boycott of GSM phone usage last Friday in the country. The one day boycott was set up to try and persuade the network operators to lower their costs and improve coverage. The boycott was supported by the National Association of GSM Subscribers of Nigeria and the Consumers Rights Project.
In a statement, the former presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party NCP Chief Gani Fawehinmi SAN said that he supported the boycott, saying "in compliance with the call to switch off all GSM mobile phones in the country today, I have accordingly switched off for the whole day since 8 am this morning, all my mobile phone numbers".
Local media reports suggested that the boycott also gathered notable support from consumers, and even from cellphone retailers, some of whom shut their shops on the day in protest. Not everyone observed the boycott, some businessmen saying that they could not afford to switch their phones off for the day.
Calls for the boycott were spread by a viral SMS, that read "Lets force GSM tariffs down. Join a mass protest: Switch off your GSM phone on Friday 19th 2003. They will lose millions. It worked in the US and Argentina. Spread this text"
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has instructed the mobile operators to introduce per second billing at the earliest opportunity. The NCC is also setting up a series of consumer arbitration panels to offer customers a point of complaint against the networks.
Following a meeting with President Olusegun Obasanjo at the end of last month, the mobile networks pledged to reduce their tariffs."
Posted to the site on 22nd September 2003
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/9756.php