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The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) declared 2017 as “The year of the telecom consumer” back in March, but TrueCaller’s report on the top 20 countries in the world that receive spam calls lists Nigeria in 9th position.

The data used in the report was aggregated anonymously from incoming calls that were either marked as spam by users or automatically flagged by Truecaller between January 1, 2017 and May 31, 2017.

According to the report, telcos are the biggest spammers in Nigeria with 61% of reported spam calls coming from telcos cold calling subscribers and trying to sell data plans or promotional offers.

India reigns supreme as the spam call capital of the world with the US and Brazil coming a close second followed by Chile, then South Africa.

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“What this report has shown supports my view that NCC should bite and not bark in its efforts to address unsolicited SMS and calls. There should be sanction attached to operators that flaws this directive after a subscriber has sent Stop to the short code 2442,” says Deolu Ogunbanjo, President of the National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers (NATCOMMS).

Obviously, setting up the framework to stop telcos from making these many unwanted spam calls is not enough — to Ogunbanjo’s point. The NCC needs to be firmer in regulating the industry and should take decisive action against telcos that flout its directive (just like it did with MTN).

Whilst the NCC is doing a relatively good job of educating Nigerians on their rights as telecom consumers, it still needs to improve on its activities and find a way to better monitor these telcos and curb their excesses.

Hopefully, this issue of unsolicited texts and calls will be put to bed soon and Nigerians will have a better consumer experience as they use telecom services/products.

What do you think about Nigeria ranking 9th in the world of receiving spam calls? Do you have any ideas on what can be done to improve the situation? Let us know in the comments section below!