LAGOS, NIGERIA – This country’s telecommunications regulator has lifted the ban on Glo Mobile’s Win and Rule promotion, which is offering 500 cars to subscribers.
The promotion, which began last December, was stopped on Feb. 7 because of what the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said was the deteriorating quality of service from the mobile operator. Glo Mobile is the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) subsidiary of the second national operator, Globacom.
The ban came as winners of the first 60 cars were drawn in a ceremony in Lagos.
The cars have a total value of about 6 billion naria (US$51.1 million) and up for grabs are BMW, Mercedes Benz, Peugeot and Kia models.
Since the advent of GSM in Nigeria, the February directive was the second time in less than eight months that the NCC had banned telecom operators from promotions because of poor service quality. The NCC issued a blanket ban on GSM promotions last July.
In the wake of the general ban, in October Glo was the only company given the nod to run promotions. But several months later, the NCC said traffic congestion on Glo’s network was not satisfactory, in accordance with the commission’s Key Performance Indicator benchmarks.
In lifting the ban on Glo’s promotion, the NCC in a letter noted that it carefully reviewed Glo’s appeal, particularly regarding issues of poor quality of service on GSM networks in Kaduna, Kano and Bauchi States.
“The commission notes Glo’s commitment and confirmation of the resolution of the identified problems in the above mentioned locations with a view to improving quality of service across its network,” the NCC said. “Consequently, the Commission hereby lifts the ban on promotional activities placed on Glo.”
A source close to the NCC said Glo had contested the promotion ban, requesting a retest of service quality in the presence of its engineers.
“When the second test was conducted, Glo performed satisfactorily, prompting NCC to lift the ban,” the source said.
The NCC said that Glo’s promotion will continue only if the company maintains an acceptable quality of service on its network.
