Mrs Maryam Bayi, Director, Consumer Affairs Bureau, Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) on Friday said that the commission was committed to ensuring that telecom consumers get quality service from the operators.
The Director restated the commitment in an address delivered at the 73rd edition of NCC consumer outreach programme at the University of Ilorin.
Bayi, who was represented by Dr Femi Atoyebi, Deputy Director, Consumer Affairs, described telecom consumers as the target beneficiary of activities of the Nigerian Communication Commission, NAN reports.
“The Commission is committed to ensuring consumers get quality service, value for money spent, timely and fair redress of complaints and protection from unwholesome practices of service providers,” she said.
Bayi said that the theme of the forum, “The benefit of Broadband to Telecom Consumers” was apt. According to her, the Commission’s mandate to protect, inform and educate telecom consumers and emphasise on broadband inspired the theme of the forum.
The Director said that NCC’s commitment to the National Broadband Plan informed the auction of 30MHz bandwidth on the 2.3GHz spectrum slot conducted by the commission in February 2014.
She said the selection of MainOne and IHS Consortium as infracos charged with the responsibility of providing metropolitan fibre and wholesome transmission services on non-discriminatory open access for Lagos and North-Central region confirmed NCC’s commitment to broadband.
“The second phase of the project which will involve selecting infracos for the remaining five geo-political zones will commence fully as soon as the first phase of the project is completed,” Bayi said.
The Director described broadband as high-speed internet access faster than the traditional dial-up access. “It provides internet access without keeping the phone lines busy; broadband service provides higher-speed of data transmission.
“It allows more content to be carried through the transmission ‘pipe line’ as against the provision of the narrowband,” she said.
Bayi told the consumers that a good broadband at home, office or business place would provide greater capacity to send data far more quickly from the computer. She said broadband would browse the web more effectively, send and receive email quicker, access internet at a higher speed and budget effectively.
The Director said broadband allowed users to connect to the internet amongst several PCs or other devices at home as most broadband routers had wireless connectivity.
According to her, broadband allows download of pictures, files and software in seconds or minutes instead of hours. She said that broadband had multi-sectoral benefits which manifest in all sectors of the economy, particularly in the areas of education, healthcare, public safety, emergency response, economic and workforce.
