Telecoms operators in Nigeria could soon face sanctions by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) over dropped calls which the regulator's executive director, Umar Danbatta, says is becoming 'intolerable'.

Speaking in Kano, Danbatta said some operators are illegally deducting money from subscribers for dropped calls and are counting such as actual calls.

The NCC has implemented measures to protect subscribers, he said. "Part of the measures is for NCC to monitor calls. Any call that was not a dropped call and was charged would be detected and the telecom provider sanctioned," he said.

"There is a limit to which a call can be dropped, we have put in place parameters to monitor what is happening, especially as regards dropped calls. This will locate the operator, to ensure that they maintained standards," Danbatta continues.

"Operators should know that they are being monitored by the NCC. The day of reckoning when their activities would be made public will soon come," he warned. "Erring operators would be identified and necessary regulatory action would be taken to improve the quality of service to Nigerians."

He emphasised that monitoring the cognitive performance indicators is very important function the NCC is performing and he said it is in line with the organisation's commitment towards protecting consumers' rights.

"Nigerians should utilise NCC's 622 call number to send complaints for official attention. We will continue to protect consumers from unfair practices through the availability of information and education required to make informed choices in the use of ICT services in the country," he said.

He added that NCC is working on ways to improve data access in Nigeria. "Despite the challenge of inadequate facility to support the project, there is high hope that access to the Internet would be free in Nigeria in the nearest future.

"We are working on plans to improve data access in Nigeria and it is captured in the eight-point agenda of the Commission. This would ensure that at least services were available, accessible and affordable to consumers."