Subscribers beg NCC to end spam messages from service providers

The National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers (NATCOMS) has urged the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to address unsolicited text message related issue squarely this year. The President of NATCOMS, Chief Deolu Ogunbanjo made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

“The issue of unsolicited text message is an industry problem that NCC has to address squarely. We are aware of how NCC has since last year been tackling the issue of unsolicited messages, but it remained the same. Until heavy sanctions are meted on the operators, that is when we can have some peace,’’ Ogunbanjo said. He insisted that telecommunications service providers do not deactivate unsolicited messages, when subscribers send “STOP” to the code provided.

According to him, when subscribers send “STOP” to the provided code operators, they still charge them for sending the messages and continue sending the unsolicited messages. In 2016, NCC introduced the 2442 Do-Not-Disturb code. The Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, had said at various fora that the short code would enable the consumers to opt out of SMS platforms they did not subscribe to. But as at December 2017, 10,000 telecommunications consumers have activated the code, according to statistics from NCC.