ATCIS-Nigeria 8th Edition released a Press Brief address delivered by the National President ATCIS-NIGERIA Hon. Sina Bilesanmi at the Sunnyside Hotel & Suite Ketu-Lagos on Wednesday December 20th, 2023.

Hon. Sina Bilesanmi during the press briefing which was a part of the end of the year activities so far for the benefits of Telecom Subscribers said,
“Association of Telephone, Cable Tv and Internet Subscribers of Nigeria [ATCIS-Nigeria] is the only leading telecom subscriber advocacy body with over 223 million memberships and 254 National /State Excos with different professionals across 36 states within the six geopolitical zone, it was established August 2015 with Reg CAC/IT/N090152, with a mission to promote mutual co-existence, fair play, defend the right among subscribers by endorsing and ensuring good products and network service delivery from network operators and service providers to our Corporate and individual members,while providing a platform to advance the right of Telephone, Cable TV and Internet subscribers throughout Nigeria. approval of Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering [SCUML] Economic Financial Crime Commission [EFCC] dated 16th January 2017 and also Member – Industry Consumer Advisory Forum an initiative of Nigerian Communications Commission [ICAF-NCC] dated 30th August 2023.

We represent 223 millions Telephone, 30 millions household Cable Tv and 159 millions Internet Subscribers our membership cuts across all the six geopolitical zones of the country and every strata of the social ladder.
On telecoms subscription, while subscriber figures have gone up, service quality has continued to be an issue. The quality has sunk further as the Yuletide approaches. Drop calls, network congestion, call diversion and so many others have increased.
We urge the operators to up their games just as we appeal to the various approving agencies to give expedited approval to telcos to expand infrastructure across the country. Particularly, we appeal to President Bola Tinubu GCFR to prevail upon the authorities of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, to grant approval to telcos to build a more resilient network. We heard that for almost a decade, successive administrations at the FCT have refused to grant approval to telcos to build infrastructure.

FCT Minister Nyesom Wike should please look at this critical issue and address it with despatch.
ATCIS-NIGERIA as a group is aware of the operating challenges but we nevertheless demand commensurate service quality with our spend. Three companies, MTN, Airtel and Mafab have rolled out services on the fifth generation (5G) technology in the country. While the first appears to be making an impact, not much has been heard from the other two, especially Mafab which launched in Abuja and later Lagos. 5G is no doubt expensive and it appears to be designed only for the rich and privileged. We say this because the cost of acquiring compatible devices are very punitive. For instance, a 5G router goes for as high as N50,000 in a country where the legislated minimum wage has remained N30,000. We therefore appeal to the Federal Government to intervene.
On pay TV services which have consistently attracted hike in tariffs, we say it’s not in the best interest of our members.
Multichoice, being the near monopolist in the sub-sector of the broadcast industry, has continued to hike its subscription fees unapologetically in Nigeria. The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) should borrow a leaf from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) which has a consumer affairs department and has made the protection of consumers its priority. It’s unclear if the NBC’s sphere of supervision extends to that of the pay TV industry because if it does, the South African operator will not be taking everyone for a ride hiding under the excuse of an increase in content costs. We had sought the introduction of the GSM payment model but they said they lacked the technology to so do. Since the company said it cannot implement it, just like the two South African companies, MTN and Econet Wireless, said per second billing was a mirage until Globacom came to the scene, we urge passionately appeal to President Tinubu to look critically into how to break this monopoly. The government should create a level playing field. An operator must not be allowed to become too powerful. The federal government should set up a committee to examine why attempts by indigenous operators to go into the pay TV industry is always frustrated. We demand for genuine liberalisation of the sector. We demand that the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) should beam its search light on the pay TV sector. For instance, telecom subscribers should be able to roll over their subscriptions. Remember there was also a time in the history GSM telephony in Migeria when subscription was tied to a limited number of days. Whatever cash by way of airtime a subscriber had on his or her mobile phone was tied to a specific validity period. Because of the economic hardships occasioned by bold decisions, we pay TV subscribers demand a regime of roll over of our subscription. If any of our members subscribes and is unable use it, such a member should be able to use it any time he or she is available.
Let me use this opportunity to also speak on the ongoing needless sufferings some of our members are passing through in the hands of Federal Road Safety officials and Lagos VIS officials in respect of fading number plates. While we are on the same page with the two agencies on the need to replace fading or faded number plates, we are at a loss as to why our members alone will foot the replacement cost.
Since it wasn’t the fault of the vehicle owners that they paid for number plates which were given by the approving authorities and later discovered to be fake or substandard, it’s just fair that the cost of replacement be jointly shared by the government and the vehicle owners.
We suggest that vehicle owners be made to pay N5,000.
Going into the new year, we will sustain our advocacy campaign against all anti-subscribers and exploitative practices. We shall do this with collaboration with you gentlemen of the fourth Estate of the Realm and government agencies.

ATCIS-Nigeria has made significant progress in various reforms, with 320 successful achievements to the betterment of Telephone, Cable Tv and Internet Subscribers, his influence and connection as a leader and National President has get members employment at various firms with 930 newspaper publication both online, local, international news as well on 20 National Television and Radio stations for interviews, since 2015 in which ATCIS has spent N757 million till date 19th December, 2023 according to our financial report sponsored by our consultant, members, donation’s & loans but yet to receive any support from Government’s agency or Operator’s.

ATCIS has received 25 awards from Government agencies, Corporate bodies and International organizations, including from the world leaders Telecom Conference in Spain,France & Lago