As part of efforts to educate telecommunications consumers on their rights to quality telecoms services, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says subscribers could stop unsolicited text messages if they send “STOP” to “2442”.

This is part of the ongoing campaign to enlighten consumers on their rights to better services.

In declaring 2017 as the year of Nigerian Telecom Consumer recently, Executive Vice Chairman (EVC of NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta said the year of the Consumer will focus on two key areas viz improving the Quality of Service; Protecting and educating the Consumer.

“To address the unsolicited calls received by consumers, the NCC has introduced the Do Not Disturb (DND) facility where consumers are urged to activate the service by dialing “2442”

The EVC also said that consumers should access the customer toll free line by dialing 622 to register their complaints if they do not get such complaints addressed by the Network operator.

According to him, NCC intends to increase the awareness level and equally the activation level of these two initiatives, adding that in its determination to ensure that the consumer experiences improved Quality of Service in the year and beyond, “the Commission is implementing measures to reduce Dropped Call Rate (DCR) to meet its benchmark of less than one percent. It will closely monitor, track and review the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of operators by Network Integrity and Technical Standards Department”, adding that “greater efforts would also be put in Compliance, Monitoring and Enforcement of set standards”.

The Commission has begun an enlightenment campaign to let the consumers know what to do whenever the issue of unsolicited telemarketing arises.

Jingles are already running on Radio stations and adverts in the print and other media are underway.

Subscribers have also been advised to avoid purchasing pre-registered Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards because of the dangers they portend to the security of our society. Every SIM card purchased must be registered with the network provider, the NCC declared.