Telecoms sector regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), is taking steps to suspend the interconnect exchange licences granted to six telecommunications clearinghouses who the regulator said are allowing call masking and call refilling.
The affected companies are Medallion Communications Limited, Interconnect Clearinghouse Nigeria Limited, Niconnx Communication Limited, Breeze Micro Limited, Solid Interconnectivity and Exchange Telecommunications Limited. They have been given up to January 31, 2018 to explain why their licences should not be suspended by the NCC.
By definition, call masking or refiling is the practice of cloning a local telephone number in place of an international number and vice versa with the intention of misconstruing the network that the call was a local call to shortchange the telecom operator and the government of revenue due it.
LEADERSHIP reported that NCC in a letter dated January 12, 2018 signed by Yetunde Akinloye, head, legal and regulatory services and Efosa Idehen, head, compliance monitoring and enforcement on behalf of the executive vice chairman/CEO, NCC, issued the Notice of Intention to Suspend licence pursuant to Section 45 (1) and (3) of the Nigerian Communications Act.