Categories: TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Consumer Interest: NCC, CBN Set To Roll Out Refund Framework For Failed Airtime, Data Transactions

<h4>Consumer Interest<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that in line with the consumer-focused objectives of the Nigerian Communications Commission &lpar;NCC&rpar; and the Central Bank of Nigeria &lpar;CBN&rpar;&comma; the two regulators have drawn up a framework to address consumer complaints arising from unsuccessful airtime and data transactions during network downtimes&comma; system glitches&comma; or human input errors&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The framework&comma; according to a statement signed by Nnenna Ukoha&comma; Head&comma; Public Affairs of the<br &sol;>&NewLine;Nigerian Communications Commission and made available to OpenLife&comma; is the outcome of several months of engagements involving the NCC&comma; the CBN&comma; Mobile Network Operators &lpar;MNOs&rpar;&comma; Value Added Service &lpar;VAS&rpar; providers&comma; Deposit Money Banks &lpar;DMBs&rpar;&comma; and other relevant stakeholders&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The statement added that these engagements were prompted by a rising incidence of failed airtime and data purchases&comma; where subscribers were debited without receiving value and experienced delays in resolution&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><em>The Framework represents a unified position by both the telecommunications and financial sectors on addressing such complaints&period; It identifies and tackles the root causes of failed airtime and data transactions&comma; including instances where bank accounts are debited without successful delivery of services&period;<&sol;em><&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><em> It also prescribes an enforceable Service Level Agreement &lpar;SLA&rpar; for MNOs and DMBs&comma; clearly outlining the roles and responsibilities of each stakeholder in the transaction and resolution process&period;<&sol;em><&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>Under the new framework&comma; where a purchaser is debited but fails to receive value for airtime or data—whether the failure occurs at the bank level or with an NCC licensee—the purchaser is entitled to a refund within 30 seconds&comma; except in circumstances where the transaction remains pending&comma; of which the refund can take up to 24 hours&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>The framework further mandates operators to notify consumers via SMS of the success or failure of every transaction&period; It also addresses erroneous recharges to ported lines&comma; incorrect airtime or data purchases&comma; and instances where transactions are made to the wrong phone number&comma;<&sol;strong> <&sol;em>NCC said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Speaking on the development&comma; the Director of Consumer Affairs at the NCC&comma; Mrs&period; Freda Bruce-Bennett disclosed that the framework also establishes a Central Monitoring Dashboard to be jointly hosted by the <strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">Nigerian Communications Commission and the Central Bank of Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to her&comma; the dashboard will enable both regulators to monitor failures&comma; the responsible party&comma; refunds&comma; and track SLA breaches in real time&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Failed top-ups rank among the top three consumer complaints&comma; and in line with our commitment to addressing these priority issues&comma; we were determined to resolve it within the shortest possible time&comma;” she said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We are grateful to all stakeholders—particularly the Central Bank of Nigeria and its leadership—for their tireless commitment to resolving this issue and arriving at this framework&comma; and for ensuring that consumers of telecommunications services receive full value for their purchases&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;So far&comma; pending the approval of management of both regulators on the framework&comma; MNOs and banks have collectively made refunds of over <strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">N10 billion<&sol;a><&sol;strong> to customers for failed transactions&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mrs&period; Bruce-Bennett further noted that implementation of the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;vanguardngr&period;com&sol;">framework<&sol;a> is expected to commence on March 1&comma; 2026&comma; once the two regulators have made final approvals&comma; and technical integration by all MNOs&comma; VAS providers and DMBs is concluded&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;22004" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-22004" style&equals;"width&colon; 300px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img class&equals;"size-medium wp-image-22004" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2023&sol;08&sol;Central-Bank-of-Nigeria-CBN-300x167&period;webp" alt&equals;"Consumer Interest&colon; NCC&comma; CBN Set To Roll Out Refund Framework For Failed Airtime&comma; Data Transactions" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"167" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-22004" class&equals;"wp-caption-text"><em><strong>CBN Headquarters in Abuja<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;

Share This
Openlife Reporter

Recent Posts

Late Prophet Temitope Joshua Of SCOAN Only Gone From Sight But His Impacts Linger—Femi Oyewale, NASRE President

Late Prophet Temitope Joshua Of SCOAN Only Gone From Sight But His Impacts Linger---Femi Oyewale…

1 day ago

Zenith Bank Expands Its Environmental Sustainability And Responsible Business Practices, Partners LAWMA, LASWA To Commemorate 2026 World Environment Day

Zenith Bank Expands Its Environmental Sustainability And Responsible Business Practices, Partners LAWMA, LASWA To Commemorate…

1 day ago

Dangote Refinery Ramps Up To 700,000 Barrels Per Day, Strengthening Africa’s Energy Landscape

Dangote Refinery Ramps Up   OpenLife Nigeria reports that Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals has…

1 day ago

Globacom Introduces 10 % More Data Offer To Customers, Tagged ‘More Data More Value Only On Glo’

Globacom Introduces 10 % More Data Offer To Customers   OpenLife Nigeria reports that in…

1 day ago

Former Director, Nigerian National War College, Bode George, Lectures Pastor Adeboye On Military Hierarchy, Faults 90-Day Service Chief’s Resignation Order

Former Director OpenLife Nigeria reports that Retired Navy Commodore Bode George who served as Director,…

1 day ago

List Of Constituencies Where ADC May Not Field Candidates In 2027 Elections As INEC Stands Firm On Deadline

List Of Constituencies Where ADC May Not Field Candidates In 2027 Elections As INEC Stands…

2 days ago

This website uses cookies.