Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Report
(Quarter 3 - 2018)
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Compliance Monitoring Of Mobile Number Portability (MNP) Scheme
Consistent with the Commission's mandate to monitor all significant activities relating to the performance of all Stakeholders in the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) Scheme and given the need to ensure a seamless porting process with strict adherence to the MNP Regulations 2014 and the Business Rules & Port Order Processes, a technical audit team carried out a comprehensive Q3, 2018 compliance audit exercise of the MNP Platform from 15th – 17th August, 2018.
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Compliance Monitoring Of Forceful Subscription Of Value Added Services
The Commission has continued to be inundated with several complaints from telecoms subscribers on the incidences of forceful subscription of value added services by VAS Providers without their explicit authorization. It is imperative that we ensure that consumers are always protected from these exploitations until the appropriate legal framework/ policy is provided by the Commission.
As part of its strategy to ensure transparency, fairness and ethical practices in the VAS segment of the Nigerian Telecommunications industry, the Commission in recent audit reports established that practices of unauthorized mass activations of subscribers were widespread and rampant in the telecoms industry.
The Commission coordinated and carried out Regulatory Hearings with 110 VAS Providers and a System Audit on Value Added Services on MNO's network in 3rd Quarter, 2018. This necessitated the current assessment of all Call Data Records (CDR) logs and other information retrieved from the Audit exercises from the MNOs' network.
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National Stakeholders Engagement Session With Relevant Agencies Of States And Representatives In Charge Of Telecommunications Matters
Following the various infrastructure challenges in the telecom industry, the Commission organized a Stakeholders Engagement Forum with the Theme: "Optimizing the benefits of telecom infrastructure in Nigeria" to harmonize opinions on these issues. Critical amongst these are the problems of deploying essential infrastructure to drive ICT development in the country including the constraints in granting approvals of Right of Way, multiple taxation and multiple legislation, overbearing levies, fees and indiscriminate exercise of administrative authority.
The forum which was held on Tuesday, 17th July, 2018 at the HQ NAF Officers' Mess and Suites, Kado, was attended by the EVC/CEO, Professor Umar G. Dambatta and other executive management of the Commission, licensed telecom operators, representatives of agencies of various state governments in charge of telecom matters, other industry stakeholders, and members of the Media. The guest speakers were; Paul Usoro, SAN and Professor Abiola Sanni, a Tax Consultant.
Highlights Of Deliberation
- Papers were presented by Legal practitioner; Mr. Paul Usoro, SAN and Subject Matter Expert (SME); Prof. Abiola Sanni on; Legal Framework for Telecoms Infrastructure Rollout, and on Harmonization of Taxation/Regulation on Telecoms Infrastructure respectively.
- Panelists' discussions was led by Mr. Sunday Dare, the Executive Commissioner, Stakeholders Management on the key issues for consideration;
Outcome/ Communique
Consistent with the objectives of the meeting, stakeholders agreed on broad resolutions bordering on the following:
- Uniform RoW rates and standardized review mechanisms applicable across all States;
- Uniform approval processes with each State adopting a "One-Stop-Shop" Agency which will act as single interface for all site approvals and RoW within a State;
- Dig-once policies to reduce cost of roll-out and protect roads and other public infrastructure;
- "Zero interference" commitments to ensure that legal due process will be observed and adequate notice given before any enforcement action is taken against any service provider. Telecoms infrastructure must however never be tampered with;
- SLAs with operators to ensure that issues are timeously resolved and;
- Escalation processes for all operator misconduct, as well as effective dispute resolution mechanisms.
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Monitoring Of Compliance With The Commission's Direction On Routing Of A Minimum Of 10% Of Interconnect Traffic By Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) Through Interconnect Exchange Licencees
Pursuant to the directive that Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and Interconnect Clearing Houses should forward their monthly interconnect traffic to the Commission on/before 10th of the preceding month. This is to facilitate our compliance monitoring with the direction issued in April 2009 that all operators pass a minimum of 10% of their inter –operator traffic through certified Interconnect Exchange Licensees anywhere the Interconnect Exchange Licensees are located, the Commission received submissions from Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) MTN, Airtel, EMTS, Globacom and Interconnect Clearing Houses (ICN, Breeze, Medallion, Exchange Telecoms, Solid interconnectivity) for the month of July & August, 2018. Below is the summary of the analysis of their submissions.
S/No
Network Operators
July, 2018 Interconnect Exchange Traffic Submissions (%)
August, 2018 Interconnect Exchange Traffic Submissions (%)
1
EMTS
10.08
10.04
2
MTN
12.24
12.96
3
AIRTEL
11.31
16.55
4
GLOBACOM
8.03
5.80
In the months of July & August, 2018 MTN, Airtel, EMTS are in compliance with the above direction. However, it was observed that from January to date, only MTN has been in full compliance, Airtel is in compliance from February - August; EMTS complied for the month of April - August 2018, while Globacom has failed to comply from January to date.
Consequently, the above observed violations were forwarded for enforcement action.
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Compliance Monitoring Of Quality Of Service (QoS)
A breakdown of identified breaches from monitoring of Quality of Service (QoS) for the period January – June, 2018 is given below:
S/N
Operator
JANUARY
FEBRUARY
MARCH
APRIL
MAY
JUNE
1.
Airtel
NIL
NIL
NIL
NIL
NIL
NIL
2.
9Mobile
NIL
NIL
NIL
NIL
NIL
NIL
3.
Globacom
SDCONG
SDCONG
SDCONG
SDCONG
SDCONG
SDCONG
4.
MTN
NIL
SDCONG
NIL
NIL
NIL
NIL
CSSR = Call Setup Success Rate
DCR = Dropped Calls Rate
SDCONG = Standalone Dedicated Control Channel Congestion
TCHCONG = Traffic Channel Congestion.
The Commission conducted compliance monitoring on Quality of Service for Q1 and Q2, 2018.
Following the exercise, we observed that the Quality of Service performance of the major MNOs between January – June 2018 and breaches were identified for the period under review. They are as follows:
- Globacom failed to meet the target KPI for SDCONG from January – June 2018
- MTN failed to meet the target KPI for SDCONG for the month of February 2018
- All other operators (Airtel and 9mobile) met the target KPI between January – June 2018
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Monitoring Of Advertisements And Promotions
Below is a summary of compliance checks on advertisements and promotion from July – September, 2018 carried out by the Compliance Monitoring Unit:
SN
NAME OF PROMO
NETWORK
OUTCOME
1
Airtel's 4G MiFi Promo
AIRTEL
Approval was not granted the matter. Enforcement action is being taken.
2
Airtel's Solo Aspire M Smartphone
AIRTEL
Approval was not granted the matter. Enforcement action is being taken.
3
Glo Smartphone Festival
GLO
Approval was not granted the matter. Enforcement action is being taken.
4
9mobile Super-Fast Bonus
9MOBILE
Approval was not granted the matter. Enforcement action is being taken.
5
Exercise On MTN Goodybag
MTN
CAB confirmed to CME of the approval of the promo.
6
9mobile offer for Samsung Galaxy Note 9.
9mobile
Approval was not granted the matter. Enforcement action is being taken.
7
9mobile 3G Mifi
9MOBILE
Approval was granted
8
Smile S Mifi.
SMILE
Approval was granted
9
Airtel Smartconnect 2.0 tariff plan
AIRTEL
Approval was granted
10
MTN Dealz Zone Promotion
MTN
Approval was granted
11
Ntel free 3 Months Data
NTEL
Approval was not granted the matter. Enforcement action is being taken.
12
Spectranet Rainbow Promotional Offer
SPECTRANET
Approval was not granted the matter. Enforcement action is being taken.
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Regulatory Interventions
Below is a summary of regulatory interventions embarked upon with various state agencies from July – September, 2018:
SN
COMPLAINANT
ALLEGED LEVIES/ FEE
STATE GOVT AGENCY
OUTCOME
1.
MTN
Alleged non-payment of Right of Way (RoW) fees to the Kwara State Government for over two years
Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KWIRS)
Several meetings were held between MTN and KWIRS and it was resolved that both parties should carry out an assessment tour to identify RoW belonging to the State and Federal Government for the purpose of paying what is due to KWIRS.
2.
ALTON
An alleged tax liability owed River State
River State Internal Revenue Service
ALTON was requested to engage the agency for possible reconciliation.
3.
IHS
Non-payment of Sanitation Levy to Anambra State Environmental Protection Agency.
ABSEPA Through consultant (Agozie Mmotoh & Co)
IHS was requested to respond to the allegation which they did and copied the Commission.
4.
ATC
Re: Notification of Acquisition Challenges and Inability to Achieve 10m Regulatory Setback
Inter-ministerial Standing Committee on Infrastructure Localization in Nigeria
A meeting was held among members and it was resolved that the site in question be visited for inspection.
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Enforcement Exercise On SIM Card Registration Outside Controlled Environment
The Commission carried out physical enforcement actions regarding the said Direction on May 2, 2018. Enforcement team visited some registration centers at Council for Arts and Culture complex, Area 10, Garki, Abuja, purchased and registered several SIM cards outside the controlled environment. Subsequently, MNO's were sanctioned for carrying out registration outside controlled environment.
The total sum of sanctioned imposed against MTN Ltd, Airtel Network Ltd, Globacom Ltd and EMTS Ltd was N60, 000, 000 and the deadline for payment was September 14, 2018. The breakdown of the sanction is as follows: - MTN - ₦5,000,000.00; Airtel - ₦20,000,000.00; GLO - ₦30,000,000.00 and EMTS - ₦5,000,000.00) MTN and Airtel have paid their fines, while a statement of reason has been sent to GLO and EMTS.
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Call Masking, Call Refilling And SIM Boxing Related Issues
Following the continuous incidences of Call Masking in the country, seven companies have been engaged for a Proof of Concept (PoC) of their respective solutions to tackle the issue. The PoC is to be done over a period of three months, ending October 31, 2018. We have received and reviewed the reports from these solution providers, meeting was also held with the MNOs, directing them to grant the solution providers maximum support in this regard. From the reports, we have observed a decline in this call masking act.
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My 9mobile App Promotion
The Commission, on August 15, 2018 sanctioned EMTS the sum of ₦2,000,000.00 (Two Million Naira) Only for unapproved My 9Mobile APP Promotion. EMTS has since paid the fine within the stipulated deadline..
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9mobile ZTE MF910 MiFi Promotion
The Commission, on August 15, 2018 sanctioned EMTS the sum of ₦2,000,000.00 (Two million Naira) Only for unapproved "ZTE MF910 4G Mi-Fi" promotion. EMTS however, requested for a statement of reason from the Commission which has been communicated accordingly and have been advised to pay the sanction on or before October 19, 2018.
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Globacom Advert Tagged "Enjoy Non Stop Browsing This Season Of Love"
The Commission has, on August 15, 2018, imposed administrative fine in the sum of ₦2,000,000.00 (Two Million Naira) Only against Globacom Ltd regarding an unapproved advert "Enjoy non-stop browsing this season of love". Globacom requested for statement of reason pursuant to Section 87 of the NCA which was since provided by the Commission..
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Globacom E Top-Up 8x Bonus Promo
The "E Top-Up 8X Bonus" was exclusively available to new and existing prepaid customers who recharge their lines via any of the Globacom E-top up channels 8 times the value of their recharges when they recharge from ₦101 to ₦50001. The Commission's Monitors used MSISDN 08051554746 to test-run this promotion. It was also established that there was no approval issued by the Commission for the promotion and it equally violated the floor price. Globacom was sanctioned ₦2,000,000.00 for failure to obtain approval for the promo and another ₦2,000,000.00 for violation of floor price.
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MTN Yafun Yafun SIM Promotion
The Commission, in August, 2018, imposed administrative fine in the sum of ₦2,000,000.00 (Two Million Naira) Only against MTN Ltd for unapproved Yafun Yafun SIM Promotion. MTN has since paid the sanction within the stipulated deadline.
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Globacom's Limited Collapsed Towers In Wuro Tambo, Jalingo Taraba State - Notice Of Sanction
The Commission imposed administrative fine in the sum of N2, 000, 000 (Two million naira) only against Globacom Ltd for its failure to provide information regarding its collapsed masts in with Site ID Nos Jal 008 & Jal 003, situated at Wuro Tambo and G.R.A behind Taraba State Motel, Jalingo Taraba State respectively. Globacom Limited had since paid the fine within the stipulated deadline.
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Monitoring Compliance With The Commission's Direction On Routing Of A Minimum Of 10% Of Interconnect Traffic By Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) Through Interconnect Exchange Licensees
The Commission has issued pre-enforcement notice to Globacom Limited for its continuous failure for six consecutive months to comply with the Direction for passing of minimum of 10% interconnect traffic through Interconnect Clearing Houses.
Globacom has responded to the pre-enforcement notice claiming that the non-compliance was due to the incapacity of two of the clearing houses they are using i.e. Breeze and Niconnx Ltd.
Further investigation through the clearing house is currently on-going to ascertain the veracity of Globacom' s claim.