By OLATUNDE AJAYI

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says it has been inundated with frequent complaints from consumers on fast depletion of their internet data.

Its Chairman, Board of Commissioners, Prof. Adeolu Akande, made this known on Thursday at the NCC fifth edition of Campus Conversation held at the University of Ibadan.

The commission, however, sensitised students of the university on how to manage their data usage on mobile telecommunications network to reduce the rate of data depletion.

Akande, represented by Mrs Afure Iloka, Special Assistant to the Executive Vice-Chairman of NCC, said that consumers’ complaints were the reason why NCC, through its Consumers Affairs Bureau (CAB), embarked on sensitisation exercise.

According to him, this is to educate telecommunications consumers on various ways to manage their internet data.

He said that the campus conversation initiative sought to educate students on the various consumers centric initiatives of NCC toward protecting the telecommunications consumers against unfair practice by Service Providers.

“This initiative is consistent with the mandate of the Commission to Protect, Inform and Educate the Nigerian Telecom Consumers.

“One of the mandates of the commission is the ‘Protection of the rights and interests of Consumers’.

“This can only be achieved when consumers are well informed and educated on their rights and obligations as telecom consumers.

“This conversation is also in tandem with the Strategic Management Plan (SMP 2020-2024) of the Executive Vice-Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, which is to improve quality of experience and stakeholders’ satisfaction.

“The conversation strengthens our focus on the protection of the rights, privileges and interests of telecommunications consumers, including people living with disability and the elderly through information dissemination,” Akande said.

Also, the Head of Consumers Affairs, Mr Ayanbanji Ojo, said that a consumer would experience high rate of data depletion when such consumer turn on automatic updates of apps, videos and pictures to the cloud on smartphones.

Ojo said that faster download speeds due to 4G coverage and downloading on higher defaults video formats like 5G and 4G compared to 3G and 2G mobile network could also result to high rate of data depletion.

He noted that consumers could manage their data usage by the use of data compression in phone browsers, disable mobile data when internet connection not needed and by reducing video streaming quality from video sites such as YouTube.

In his remarks, Mr Babagana Digima, Team Lead, Nigeria Office for Developing Indigenous Telecoms Sectors (NODITS), said that Nigerian youths remain greatest assets within the telecom ecosystem in the country.

Digima, an engineer, noted that involvement of youths in indigenous telecommunications innovation would bring fresh perspectives and new ideas, which would drive meaningful change in the indigenous telecommunications sector.

Responding, Mrs Adewole Adeyinka, President, UI Students Union Government (SUG), lauded the efforts of NCC on data usage sensitisation initiative and other programmes targeted at youths development.

Adeyinka urged NCC management to improve on its support programmes for students through provisions of Laptops and other educational materials that would ensure smooth academic process.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the conversation also featured cyber security and child online protection lecture. (NAN)

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