We will stop call masking, vows NCC
The Nigerian Communication Commission has assured telecom consumers that it will stop masking of calls by service providers.
Mrs Felicia Onwuegbuchulam, the NCC Director of Consumer Affairs Bureau, gave the assurance on Thursday in Ogbomoso at the 100th edition of the Consumer Outreach Programme.
“With respect to call masking/refilling, the commission is working seriously to abate the menace of this ugly development,” she said.
According to the director, the commission will also deploy appropriate technology as a strategy to combat the menace.
Onwuegbuchulam added that NCC was working on the issuance of Direction to Multi-National Organisations to use all technical means in halting the use of their networks for call masking and SIM boxing activities.
She said the commission was creating awareness on call masking through different social platforms and through various outreach programmes to educate consumers and encourage them to report cases to NCC.
“We are embarking on continuous compliance, monitoring and enforcement activities to detect victims of call masking and investigate channels used to commit the illegality.
“Also, the commission is in the process of choosing the best form from a list of technology solutions used in other countries to block the devices as well as track and apprehend the culprits,” she added.
Onwuegbuchulam said that the commission would tighten Subscribers Identity Module registration process across all networks to reduce the availability of SIMs for SIM-boxing.
The director also noted that the commission had been inundated with various complaints of unsolicited text messages and calls as well as refusal to roll over unused data at the expiration of data bundle by service providers.
She added that the commission had directed service providers to roll over unused data for a period of time ranging from one day to seven days.
(NAN)
