If you have ever run out of data and don’t hope to renew your package and all of a sudden your call credit is yanked off to automatically renew your package without your consent, well respite is here.

The Nigerian Communications Commission NCC has issued a directive to all telecommunications providers in the country to henceforth stop all automatic data packages renewal without the express permission of the customer.

Failure to comply by the NCC directive will cost the network provider an N5million naira fine and an extra N500,000 naira for every day that the commission issues the sanction and the fine were not paid by the service provider.

NCC Executive Vice-chairman Professor Umar Dambatta while addressing participants at the first episode of NCC Consumer Conversation 2018, held in Karu, Nasarawa State said no mobile service provider should impose its services on consumers.

Represented by the Director of Northern operations, Mrs. Helen Obi, the directive read; ‘‘The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, on the 21 May 2018 issued a directive to all network providers to desist from carrying out the automatic or unwarranted renewal of data packages without their consent. We have also directed that no mobile service providers should impose their services to consumers. It is expected that they should obtain their consent.

‘‘There should be a written text by the network provider to the consumer requesting to know whether the consumer is interested in renewing the package, after that, the network provider must also repeat the process to ensure that the consumer understood the terms and conditions of the service and has given consent before automatic renewal.

“In a situation where the commission receives complaints from the consumer that he or she was short-changed, the Commission will take it up on behalf of the consumer because that will be a violation of directive.

‘‘The penalty for the violation will attract an N5 million for any service provider who defaults. And for every day that the commission issues the sanction and the fine was not paid by the service provider, it will attract an additional N500, 000’naira’.