NCC Admits Telecom Service Gaps, Steps Up Enforcement as Operators Spend ₦2.5tn on Network Upgrades
By Feyisola Adeyeha
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has acknowledged persistent complaints about poor telecom service quality and said it is stepping up enforcement as operators push through the sector’s largest network expansion in years.
Consumers across Nigeria have faced frequent call drops, slow internet speeds, and unstable data services in recent months. The NCC said Nigerians who rely on telecoms for work, business, education, and daily life deserve better value for money.
“Over the past two years, improving Quality of Service has remained a top priority,” the Commission said in a statement on May 13, 2026. It cited stronger monitoring of Mobile Network Operators, ISPs, and Tower Companies, and closer work with other government agencies to tackle structural problems.
The sector is in the middle of a network modernisation push after years of underinvestment. In 2025, Mobile Network Operators spent ₦2.13tn on infrastructure and upgrades, while Tower Companies invested ₦373.8bn. The spending added and upgraded more than 2,800 telecom sites nationwide.
The operator deployed more 4G and 5G layers, expanded fibre backhaul, and refreshed equipment, with a focus on urban areas and underserved locations. The rollout is continuing in 2026, with commitments to add and upgrade over 12,000 sites this year. Nearly 3,000 are already completed. More than 730 new 5G sites have gone live across 27 states so far.
The NCC also reallocated idle spectrum among the three major operators and improved spectrum contiguity to boost efficiency.
Data from the Commission’s Quality of Service and Quality of Experience assessments shows gradual gains. 4G penetration rose from 45% in January 2024 to 54% now, lifting national median download speeds from 16.5Mbps to 20Mbps. Power availability at telecom towers improved from 99.3% to 99.7% in the same period.
The improvements are clearer where new sites and upgrades are live. But the NCC admitted progress is too slow in areas still facing poor call quality, congestion, and instability.
External factors remain a problem. In 2025 alone, the Commission recorded over 27,000 fibre-cut incidents, mostly from road construction and vandalism. Theft of equipment, power issues, and denial of access to sites also affect service quality.
To address this, the NCC is working with the Office of the National Security Adviser to implement the Presidential Order on Critical National Information Infrastructure. The collaboration has disrupted syndicates involved in equipment theft, and talks with the Ministry of Works aim to reduce fibre cuts during road projects.
The Commission is also advancing a market study for a wholesale fibre segment to let smaller ISPs expand at lower cost, in line with the government’s Project BRIDGE.
Enforcement has tightened. Under the Quality of Service Regulations 2024, operators had a transition period to upgrade networks. That ended in November 2025, and the NCC said it has begun holding operators to account, including consumer compensation for poor service and new obligations for Tower Companies.
The operator must now notify consumers of major outages and restore services within set timeframes. Details are published on the NCC’s Major Network Outages Reporting Portal.
“The NCC will continue to hold operators accountable and will not hesitate to take further regulatory actions where measurable improvements are not seen,” the Commission said.
It called for a “whole-of-society” approach, urging federal, state, and local governments, as well as host communities, to protect telecom infrastructure and ease access for maintenance.
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