NAN-H-85
VAS
By Constance Athekame
Abuja, Dec. 14, 2017 (NAN) Mr Ayoola Oke, the Chief Executive Officer of ICT Derivatives Ltd., says Value Added Service (VAS) was beneficial to consumers in carrying out businesses and other functions.
Oke made this known in a paper titled: “Value Added Service (VAS) and its benefits to consumers at the 82nd Edition of Telecom Consumer Parliament (TCP) on Thursday in Abuja.
A Value Added Service (VAS) is a popular telecommunications industry term for non-core services or all services beyond standard voice calls and fax transmissions.
However, it can be used in any service industry for services available at little or no cost to promote their primary business through mobile phones and computers.
He said that the many of the complaints from subscribers on VAS were from the SMS advertised by network providers, “and this attracts deductions from subscribers accounts’’.
“The SMS is not the only medium through which VAS are delivered and also ring back tones are not the only medium.
“There are so much more and today’s presentation is to show how consumers can derive benefits from VAS.
“VAS on mobile networks has greatly helped in various areas like contest, voting, mobile advertisement, wedding invitation and the likes.
“Also, it has given the public access to free information. Example is traffic conditions on various routes to avoid traffic jam, useful health tips, availability of goods and services.
“The main advisory of VAS is for consumers to become Prosumers which are digital entrepreneurs,’’ he said.
Alhaji Abdulahi Maikano, the Director, Consumers Affairs Bureau, NCC, said that the event by NCC on VAS was to use the TCP to create awareness on its benefits to consumers.
“Let me hasten to point out that VAS in the nutshell is a popular industry term used to refer to non-core telecom services or all services beyond the standard voice and data.
“The critical part of VAS plays in enhancing consumer experience on the networks cannot be over emphasised.
“This is why we are bringing the issue of VAS to the front burner to ensure a clearer understanding of its delivery in the Nigerian telecom market.
“And how stakeholders can optimise the full potential and derive maximum benefit there from,’’ he said. (NAN)
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Edited by Grace Yussuf