The House of Representatives, Federal Republic of Nigeria has launched an investigation into the activities of private Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the country.
According to the Lawmakers, it is for alleged extortion of consumers.
This was sequel to the adoption of a motion moved at the plenary by Leke Abejide, on Thursday.
Abejide disclosed that ISPs have managed to evade accountability for their widespread inefficiency, feeble and below par service delivery.
He further alleged that consumers are forced to regularly pay for substandard services due to the glaring absence of regulations governing their pricing and service provision, thereby enabling them to exploit Nigerians.
The lawmaker bemoaned the frequent service outages, slow speeds, and inconsistent connectivity faced daily by Internet users.
Speaking further, he cited an example in the FCT, Abuja. He claimed a company, Legend ISP, charges subscribers a flat monthly prepaid rate despite knowing that its services are frequently interrupted.
“For example, this company offers various tariff rates, with the highest being approximately 483, 000 per month, yet it rarely delivers uninterrupted service for even half of the month.
“Concerned that Legend ISP deliberately provides reliable internet service only few days preceding monthly billing, deceiving customers into renewing subscriptions under the false impression of satisfactory performance, before immediately reverting to its persistently inadequate service levels presenting an unethical business model of exploitation of consumers that requires accountability to regulators.”
The Lawmakers, therefore, called on the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to come up with a framework to protect subscribers.
Suggestions were made provisions for automatic compensation or refunds for prolonged service outages or significant deviations from advertised service levels.
The members of the Green Chamber also suggested the initiation of a ‘Pay-As-You-Go’ policy.
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