Telecommunication Services Provision in Nigeria - Consumers’ Perspectives on Information Provision, Advertising and Representation of Services

Abstract

This study examined mobile telecommunication users’ perception of service providers, with regard to information provision as well as advertising and representation of services. The study was conducted in Ibadan – a Nigerian municipality. The objective was to determine whether information provision and advertising and representation of services will significantly impact the perception of the telecom users. Using convenience sampling technique, 626 respondents were selected among the consumers of four telecommunications service providers - MTN, GLO, AIRTEL, and ETISALAT. Data was collected with a 5-point Likert scaled structured questionnaire developed from the Nigerian Communications Commission’s (NCC) consumer code of practice regulation for telecom operators in the country. Descriptive statistics was used to group the observations. Findings showed that subscribers of MTN and GLO perceived their respective providers negatively with regard to providing required information as well as the representation of their products in advertising. It was recommended that NCC should be more proactive in gathering primary data from the users in order to be able to understand the situation and level of compliance with their various regulatory documents. Service providers were also advised to ensure that consumers’ desires are met in order to continue to be in their good books.