The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has announced a new joint framework with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) aimed at resolving consumer complaints arising from failed airtime and data transactions.
In a statement on Thursday, NCC spokesperson Nneka Ukoha said the framework is designed to guarantee refunds within 30 seconds for subscribers who are debited without receiving value due to network downtime, system glitches, or human errors.
Ukoha explained that the initiative followed months of engagements involving the NCC, the CBN, mobile network operators (MNOs), value-added service (VAS) providers, deposit money banks (DMBs), and other stakeholders. The collaboration reflects a unified response by the telecommunications and financial sectors to rising consumer complaints over failed airtime and data purchases.
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Under the framework, an enforceable service level agreement (SLA) has been introduced, clearly outlining the responsibilities of MNOs and DMBs in transaction processing and dispute resolution.
“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 where the transaction remains pending, in which case the refund may take up to 24 hours,” Ukoha said.
She added that operators are now mandated to notify consumers via SMS on the success or failure of every transaction. The framework also covers erroneous recharges to ported lines, incorrect airtime or data purchases, and transactions made to wrong phone numbers.
Freda Bruce-Bennett, NCC’s director of consumer affairs, said the initiative includes a central monitoring dashboard jointly hosted by the NCC and the CBN. The dashboard will track transaction failures, refunds, and SLA breaches in real time.
“Failed top-ups are consistently among the top three consumer complaints, and we were determined to resolve this issue in the shortest possible time,” Bruce-Bennett said. She noted that, pending final approval of the framework by both regulators, MNOs and banks have already refunded over N10 billion to customers for failed transactions.
Bruce-Bennett added that the framework is scheduled to take effect on March 1, subject to final approvals by the NCC and the CBN, after the completion of technical integration by MNOs, VAS providers, and DMBs.
