The House of Representatives on Wednesday directed the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) to order all the telecoms service providers to stop assigning unsolicited ring tones and text messages.

The lawmakers also called on NCC to stop GSM operators from charging customers arbitrarily.

The House also mandated its committee on communications, when constituted, to liaise with the NCC to put an end to the “unholy practices” by the service providers and report back within two weeks.

The decision was taken after adopting a motion by Rep Aliyu Sani Madaki (APC, Kano) who noted that in the recent past, mobile service providers in Nigeria started charging their subscribers for unsolicited caller tones, which contravened the NCC Act of 2003.

He said most often, those unsolicited caller tones are offensive and unpleasant, saying even at that, the service providers charge fees on such caller tones.

He said such charges negatively affect the subscribers’ means of livelihood, saying if the act was not checked, subscribers would continue to be shortchanged.

Contributing to the motion, House Leader Femi Gbajabiamila said the action of the service providers breached relevant provisions of the law on privacy and harassment.

On his part, Minority Leader Leo Ogor, in supporting the motion, said the House ought to look at the matter holistically so that such would be prevented in future.

The motion was unanimously adopted by the lawmakers when Speaker Yakubu Dogara subjected it to voting.