Etisalat Seeks Exemption From Ban On Promos, Lotteries

Etisalat Nigeria says it ought to be exempted from the blanket ban on promos and lotteries run by telecom operators because her network has no capacity problem or network congestions.

Steve Evans, chief executive of the company who stated this at the launch of the network’s new tariff plan, painted a rosy picture of his company’s network robustness.

“And the reason we did not have the problem is that we did not offer plans or promos which were offered by the operators, like giving five times or many minutes on net; which you have to use till midnight of that day. It was a recipe for disaster and the operators should have known from the very beginning. They had network problem, but we in Etisalat Nigeria did not have network quality problem and we still do not have such problem,” Evans claimed.

The Etisalat boss said that the network will continue to dialogue with NCC to reverse its decision on the ban, as it concerns Etisalat.

“We are talking to the NCC about the ban on promo put in place, because we feel fundamentally that is unfair for Etisalat to be included in that ban” Evans stated

“There was no problem on our network. If you go onto any of the social sites, if you look at the opinion you will see that Etisalat subscribers are happy over the quality of phone calls, the 3G network. So we want to persuade the NCC that the ban on promos should not be applicable to Etisalat Nigeria,” he added.

Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), telecommunication regulator had recently ordered telecom operators to immediately suspend all promotions.

NCC said that it received several complaints from consumers and industry stakeholders against the promotions offered by the telecommunications operators.

In a statement by Mr. Tony Ojobo, NCC’s public affairs director, noted that the ban would remain in force until the commission deemed fit. The affected telecoms operators include Globacom, MTN Nigeria, Intercellular Limited, Visafone, Etisalat, Airtel Network Limited and Multi-Links Telecoms Limited. NCC said the ban includes “all promotions by telecommunications network operators and lotteries being carried out on such networks. The ban covers all proposed and approved promotions and lotteries on which the commission has given approval further to the memorandum of understanding, MoU, entered into with the National Lottery Regulatory Commission.

By Henry Ojelu