Telcos, banks refund N10b to subscribers

• Customers get cashback for failed airtime, data transactions

Telecom sector regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said mobile network operators (MNOs) and Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) have refunded subscribers over N10billion cash for failed airtime and data purchase.

Director of Consumer Affairs at the NCC, Mrs. Freda Bruce-Bennett who disclosed this said the framework jointly drawn by the Commission and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has established a Central Monitoring Dashboard to be jointly hosted by the NCC and the CBN.

Head, Public Affairs at the NCC, Nnenna Ukoha, assured that the Commission has the data of all the failed transactions, adding that when the framework becomes up and running by March1, 2026, every subscriber affected by such failures would be refunded.

According to Mrs. Bruce-Bennett, failed top-ups rank among the top three consumer complaints, adding that the Commission is committed to addressing these priority issues.

“So far, pending the approval of management of both regulators on the framework, MNOs and banks have collectively made refunds of over N10 billion to customers for failed transactions,” she said.

She said the NCC and the CBN have drawn a framework to address consumer complaints arising from unsuccessful airtime and data transactions during network downtimes, system glitches, or human input errors.

The framework, she said, is the outcome of several months of engagements involving the NCC, the CBN, Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), Value Added Service (VAS) providers, Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), and other relevant stakeholders. These engagements were prompted by a rising incidence of failed airtime and data purchases, where subscribers were debited without receiving value and experienced delays in resolution.

The Framework represents a unified position by both the telecom and financial sectors on addressing such complaints.

It identifies and tackles the root causes of failed airtime and data transactions, including instances where bank accounts are debited without successful delivery of services. It also prescribes an enforceable Service Level Agreement (SLA) for MNOs and DMBs, clearly outlining the roles and responsibilities of each stakeholder in the transaction and resolution process.

Under the new framework, where a purchaser is debited but fails to receive value for airtime or data—whether the failure occurs at the bank level or with an NCC licensee—the purchaser is entitled to a refund within 30 seconds, except in circumstances where the transaction remains pending, of which the refund can take up to 24 hours.

The framework further mandates operators to notify consumers via short message service (SMS) of the success or failure of every transaction. It also addresses erroneous recharges to ported lines, incorrect airtime or data purchases, and instances where transactions are made to the wrong phone number.

According to her, the dashboard will enable both regulators to monitor failures, the responsible party, refunds, and track SLA breaches in real time.

She said: “Failed top-ups rank among the top three consumer complaints, and in line with our commitment to addressing these priority issues, we were determined to resolve it within the shortest possible time.

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“We are grateful to all stakeholders—particularly the CBN and its leadership—for their tireless commitment to resolving this issue and arriving at this framework, and for ensuring that consumers of telecommunications services receive full value for their purchases.

Mrs. Bruce-Bennett further noted that implementation of the framework is expected to commence on March 1, 2026, once the two regulators have made final approvals, and technical integration by all MNOs, VAS providers and DMBs is concluded.