Calls to compensate Nigerian mobile subscribers for poor services have been brushed aside by the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON).
In July, subscribers under the auspices National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers (NATCOM) had demanded that each subscriber should be paid $30 each as compensation for poor services.
Subsequently, NATCOM has called on subscribers to boycott any network operator that fails to provide the pay-outs.
But ahead of the planned Thursday boycott, chairman of ALTON, Gbenga Adebayo, has said the telecoms body does not plan to "bow" to NATCOM’s threats as Adebayo says the compensation being demanded for is a "misplaced request."
Adebayo said a letter sent by ALTON regarding the requests was ‘badly intended’ and that it was "just to whip up public sentiments."
“It appears to us that the association that sent the letter is not aware of the fundamentals of the industry they claim to represent. If they are aware, I would not expect them to keep issues in the background and then come on behalf of their members to claim compensation,” he said.
According to him there is no basis for demanding compensation.
He argued that any sanction and penalty could not eliminate the problems of quality of service and that there is a need to address the issues.
However, the president of the subscribers body, Chief Ogunbanjo, has insisted that telecoms firms in the country have "every" reason to pay the compensation as they have prospered at the expense of subscribers.
Nigeria has more than 110 million mobile subscribers in a sector dominated by Airtel, Etisalat, Glo Mobile and MTN.
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