The Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) has revived the Special Numbering Service, a Value Added Service, introduced into the Nigerian market in 2006 to make communication easier for companies and individuals who would want customised and easily memorisable ways of reaching out to them such as 0700CALLNCC.
The service had fizzled out of the telecoms market due to its high rate until the NCC held a stakeholders meeting to revitalised the almost dead value added telecoms service.
In a document from the NCC sighted by TechnologyMirror, the Commission revealed that “there are currently only twenty five active licensees rendering this service offering” adding that the service became out of reach to subscribers due to charges by operators and the revenue generation by the service provider(s) was also very poor.
This was due to high cost of interconnect tariffs and settlements on the 0700 and 0800 lines. The high charges to the subscribers occasioned by high termination cost discouraged the use of the service which led to near collapse of this market segment.
Arising from this, the Commission severally engaged the relevant stakeholders with a view to arriving at a Cost Based Determination that would address the challenges in the market segment.
The NCC has finally tariff to be charged for the Non Toll-Free Number at N12.00 while that for Toll-Free Number is N10.75.
Before the new tariff, the tariffs charged by MNOs for Special Numbering Licensees (SNL) using the 0800 numbering range were as follows:
a. ₦15 for all incoming calls to a SNL Service Provider
b. ₦3.90 per minute for interconnect to MNOs
c. ₦4.70 per minute for interconnect to small operators (Fixed networks)
d. ₦3.00 per minute as Value Added Service (VAS) charge
Any subscriber that uses the 0800 toll free service is charged a total of either N21.90 per minute
(Mobile Network) or N22.70 per minute (Fixed Network).
It would be recalled that the Commission met severally with the relevant stakeholders with a view to arriving at an acceptable rate using a cost based Determination.
The final Stakeholders engagement took place on December 15, 2021 where the Commission presented the proposed cost model to be used in developing the Determination. This was well received and accepted by all stakeholders.
According to the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Prof Umar Danbatta, all operators must ensure strict compliance and seek approval of the Commission in line with this Determination, adding that “This Determination shall take effect from November 1, 2022 and shall remain in force until reviewed/amended by the Commission.
“The Commission reserves the right to amend this Determination at any time especially where
there are significant changes to the input parameters.”
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