Join our Telegram group and receive breaking and trending news updates directly on your phone.
Join for News Updates âś•
By Correspondent.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have jointly developed a comprehensive framework aimed at resolving consumer complaints arising from failed airtime and data transactions.
The development was disclosed by the Head of Public Affairs at the NCC, Mrs Nnenna Ukoha, in a statement in Abuja at the weekend.
Ukoha said the framework aligns with the consumer-protection mandates of both regulators,adding that it was designed to tackle persistent complaints from subscribers who are debited for airtime or data without receiving value, often due to network downtimes, system glitches or human errors.
Our correspondent reports that the framework is the outcome of extensive engagements involving the NCC, the CBN, Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), Value Added Service (VAS) providers and other key stakeholders.
According to Ukoha, the rising incidence of failed airtime and data purchases, delayed complaint resolution and prolonged refund timelines necessitated the collaborative intervention by the telecommunications and financial sector regulators.
According to her,the framework represents a unified regulatory position on handling such complaints and addresses the root causes of transaction failures, including cases where customers’ bank accounts are debited without successful service delivery.
She added that introduces an enforceable Service Level Agreement (SLA) for MNOs and DMBs, clearly defining the roles and responsibilities of each stakeholder in the transaction and resolution process.
Under the new arrangement, customers who are debited but do not receive airtime or data are entitled to a refund within 30 seconds, regardless of whether the failure occurs at the bank level or with an NCC-licensed operator. However, where a transaction remains pending, the refund may take up to 24 hours.
The framework further mandates service providers to notify consumers via SMS of the success or failure of every airtime or data transaction.
In addition, it addresses issues such as erroneous recharges to ported lines, incorrect airtime or data purchases, and transactions made to the wrong phone numbers.
Contributing,the Director of Consumer Affairs of the commission,Mrs Freda Bruce-Bennett, said that the framework establishes a Central Monitoring Dashboard to be jointly hosted by the NCC and the CBN.
According to her, the dashboard will enable both regulators to monitor transaction failures, identify responsible parties, track refunds and detect SLA breaches in real time.
“Failed airtime and data top-ups rank among the top three consumer complaints. In line with our commitment to addressing these priority issues, regulators are determined to resolve them within the shortest possible time,” Bruce-Bennett said.
She added that, pending final approval by the management of both regulators, MNOs and banks have collectively refunded over ₦10 billion to customers for failed airtime and data transactions.
