Shittu tasks telecom operators, NCC on drop calls, call masking

The Minister of Communications, Mr Adebayo Shittu, on Friday charged telecom operators and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to stop call masking and investigate its origin.
According to a statement issued in Abuja by the Deputy Director, Press in the Ministry, Mr Henshaw Ogbuke Shittu gave the advice at a meeting with telecom operators over increasing rate of drop calls and other unwholesome practices.
He said the directive followed a correspondence he received from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation on call masking by telecommunication network providers in Nigeria.
Shittu said also that the Senate had passed resolutions on the issues; as such there was urgent need for the service providers and regulatory agency to intervene.
He, therefore, enjoined NCC to investigate and invoke appropriate provisions of the law and other extant agreements to protect consumers and refund them henceforth for disrupted calls caused by network issues.
The minister said that consumers should also be allowed to have more control over their usage of data bundles as practiced by telecom operators in countries like Kenya and South Africa.
Shittu said that NCC, Consumer Protection Council (CPC), Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and other regulatory agencies should effectively supervise telecom service providers, to ensure regulatory excellence.
Network service providers at the meeting tried to identify some of the causes of the dropped calls to include lack of In-Building Solutions (IBS) in some of the buildings for accessibility of calls.
It was explained that where a building, like the Federal Secretariat Complex, Abuja, has no in-building solutions, making and receiving smooth calls from such a place will be difficult.
They added that in a situation where high rise buildings overshadow other buildings, Fibre Optic Links tampering, separation of domestic rates from international calls among others.
The network service providers, however, at the end of the meeting, promised to work amicably with the relevant authorities, as directed by the minister.
Zenith Bank sponsored candidate wins bronze at 2017 Microsoft competition
Miss. Katherine Eta who was sponsored by Zenith Bank Plc emerged the third place winner in the keenly contested 2017 Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship (MOSWC) held in Disneyland, California, USA.
The 16-year old SS3 student, of Childville School, Ogudu, Lagos, represented Nigeria in the annual competition which is a global competition that tests students’ skills in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
The 2017 MOSWC in versions 2013 and 2016 of the Microsoft programs was contested worldwide by about 1.1 million students from 140 countries. 157 contestants from 50 countries eventually qualified to compete in the world finals in Disneyland, California.
Katherine won a cash prize, a NuVision Solo 10 Draw Tablet and the ReadManna Chairman’s Prize for coming third in the competition.