The Member of Parliament for Bunkpurugu, Dr. Abed Bandim, has called out telecommunications giant MTN for what he says is their disregard for the sentiments of its customers in the last month.
Dr. Bandim expressed his anger at the telco because he said that he didn’t think the leading network provider has dealt with its customers right with regards to the repeated challenges it has had with its network services, including Mobile Money, in the period.
MTN services experienced a number of technical challenges on September 13, 22, 24, 27, and 29, with the network provider only issuing an apology twice.
In the latest of its apologies, the network provider shared its apology on its social media platforms, a situation that has angered the Bunkpurugu MP.
Speaking to GhanaWeb about the occurrence, he described this as a bizarre happening.
“In all of these, MTN never pre-empted that they’ll have these kinds of challenges so they were unforeseen disruptions. That is not the problem for me, but the problem is that MTN, after these problems, will go to issue an apology on their Facebook account, thinking that every user of their service, both voice and Mobile Money services are on Facebook and will see their apology. That is bizarre!” he said.
Dr. Abed Bandim further called out the regulator, the National Communications Authority (NCA), over what he described as their pampering of the network provider, a situation that has left them to do things they will, at the detriment of their customers.
“In all of these, we have never heard the regulator – the National Communications Authority which regulates the telecom industry, come out to speak, or also add their voice in apologising to consumers of these services.
“MTN, we know, are overwhelmed. They are the largest shareholders of these services and are abusing their monopoly because if you come to think about it, how come the other services, or other network operators are not experiencing these challenges on regular basis, but it’s only MTN. MTN is being pampered by the regulator and they continue to abuse to abuse their monopoly position, thereby affecting consumers of their services,” he added.
Dr. Abed Bandim further urged MTN to be more proactive, considering the literacy rates of its customers before it settles on how it communicates on such disruptions.
He again called on the NCA to adopt measures such as it would in the past, compelling network providers to use all available means of communication to reach affected customers rather than what it is currently employing.
“If disruptions are done, are unforeseen, then, of course, we expect MTN to do the needful by apologising to every customer, but when you go to issue an apology on your Facebook account, you don’t expect every user to hear and to see and to know about it after they have been affected by the disruptions. It is very worrying.
“In the past, MTN was compelled by the regulator to go on radio, go on TV, and ever other means that the consumer will hear of, but they are left on their own to do whatever they want, without paying heed to the consumer, so they go to apologise on Facebook, meanwhile, we have over 60% of their consumers who are rural folks, who are uneducated, who are illiterate, cannot read, cannot write, but use voice and mobile service of MTN,” he stressed.
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Dr. Abed Bandim is MP for Bunkpurugu