Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Nigeria boycotts cell phones

From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2003 11:59:12 -0400

Nigeria boycotts cell phones

Nigeria's National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers (NATCOMS) called
for a boycott of GSM phone usage last Friday in the country. The one day boycott
was set up to try and persuade the network operators to lower their costs and
improve coverage. The boycott was supported by the National Association of GSM
Subscribers of Nigeria and the
Consumers Rights Project.

In a statement, the former presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party
NCP Chief Gani Fawehinmi SAN said that he supported the boycott, saying "in
compliance with the call to switch off all GSM mobile phones in the country today,
I have accordingly switched off for the whole day since 8 am this morning, all my
mobile phone numbers".

Local media reports suggested that the boycott also gathered notable support from
consumers, and even from cellphone retailers, some of whom shut their shops on the
day in protest. Not everyone observed the boycott, some businessmen saying that
they could not afford to switch their phones off for the day.

Calls for the boycott were spread by a viral SMS, that read "Lets force GSM
tariffs down. Join a mass protest: Switch off
your GSM phone on Friday 19th 2003. They will lose millions. It worked in the US
and Argentina. Spread this text"
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has instructed the mobile
operators to introduce per second billing at the earliest opportunity. The NCC is
also setting up a series of consumer arbitration panels to offer customers a point
of complaint against the networks.

Following a meeting with President Olusegun Obasanjo at the end of last month, the
mobile networks pledged to reduce their tariffs.

Posted to the site on 22-Sep-03

http://www.cellular-news.com/story/9756.shtml

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