The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has confirmed that new regulations to improve customer experience when dealing with providers of Value Added Services (VAS) are now in place.

Alhaji Adedigba, Deputy Director in the Consumer Affairs Bureau at the NCC told the 84th Edition of the Telecom Consumer Parliament (TCP) (organised by the NCC in Lagos yesterday) that VAS providers are expected to comply with the new rules this week.

"I am happy to inform you that key resolutions reached at the 83rd Edition of the TCP held in Lagos in April 2018 have been documented and forwarded to all relevant stakeholders for immediate implementation. Some of the resolutions are to stop Value Added Services' automatic renewal and forceful subscription and (for them to) implement a two-step authorisation of opt-in process for VAS subscription. On the strength of the above resolutions, the Commission has issued two directions and one of the directions became effective on June 26th, 2018."

The NCC said it has instructed operators to start rolling over unused data from 26 June 2018.

Telcos are now expected to add a subscriber's unused data to their next data subscription or face a penalty of up to N5 000 000 fine on the 1st failure per SIM card and up to N500,000 for every day defaulted following the initial transgression.

Professor Umar Garba Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC said the delivery of telecommunications services should prioritise the interests of consumers.

"Let me state that the Commission is committed to protecting the interests of telecoms consumers at all times, while also finding ways of addressing challenges facing the service providers."

He also told the TCP the authority's 'Do-Not-Disturb' (DND) facility, which requires consumers to send a text message reading 'STOP' to 2442 in order to halt all unsolicited messages or to call the NCC on through its toll-free line, remain available for use - despite the implementation of the new rules for VAS providers in Nigeria.