MACRA Calls for Consumer Protection in ICT Services
World Consumer Rights Day is commemorated annually on March 15 to raise awareness of consumer rights, promote protection and empower consumers.
LILONGWE, Malawi – The Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) has called upon all service providers, development partners, the media, and civil society organizations to play their role in ensuring consumers of ICT services in the country are safe and well-informed when accessing services, writes Martin Kamlaike.
The call was made on Tuesday at an event organized by MACRA in Lilongwe, where MACRA joined the world in commemorating the World Consumer Rights Day 2024 under the national theme "Fair and Reasonable Disclosure of Terms and Conditions to ICT Services Consumers."
After reading out the press statement from MACRA's Director General, Daud Suleman, the guest of honor Thokozani Chimbe, who represented the DG, concluded by making the call to all service providers, partners, media, and civil society to ensure ICT service consumers are safe and informed.
"Consumers of ICT services have a right to be informed of the terms and conditions for accessing and using the ICT services, and reciprocally, the ICT service operators are obliged to enter into service-level agreements with their consumers," the statement reads.
Additionally, MACRA is calling for consolidated efforts to ensure consumer rights are respected and protected against market abuses and social injustices.
Speaking to the media, Chimbe said MACRA is working to fulfill its consumer protection mandate, including reviewing laws like the Communications Act and E-Transactions and Cybersecurity Act, enhancing monitoring systems, and procuring new equipment.
"We are enhancing our monitoring system by procuring state-of-the-art equipment that will assist us in monitoring consumer protection, including a broadcasting content monitoring system," she said.
Chimbe added that MACRA is procuring a Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR) system to combat mobile fraud, as SIM card registration alone is "not enough to combat the vice."
"Most crimes are perpetrated in prison, and we discovered most prisoners have over 100 SIM cards smuggled in, giving them the ability to perpetrate fraud," she said. The CEIR will allow blacklisting any mobile phone found to be involved in crimes.
On her part, Airtel Malawi's Customer Experience Director Sibusiso Nyangulu said they are taking steps to protect customers from fraud, including awareness messages and controls over SIM swaps.
"We are constantly sending messages on radios and social media informing customers not to share passwords or PINs with anyone to ensure they are safe," Nyangulu said.
She added that Airtel has measures to ensure SIM swaps can only be done by customers themselves after providing required details.
Regarding call drops, Nyangulu encouraged customers to report service inefficiencies to Airtel's call center, Facebook or email so they can "tackle the areas where customers are experiencing problems."
As part of the commemoration, MACRA organized a panel discussion on "Disclosure of information to Consumers, how to protect consumers from exploitation" with representatives from consumer groups, regulators, police, Airtel and courier operators.
World Consumer Rights Day is commemorated annually on March 15 to raise awareness of consumer rights, promote protection and empower consumers.
This year's global theme was "Fair and Responsible Artificial Intelligence for Consumers."