Customers of telecommunication company, 9mobile, have been groaning over a prolonged downtime on the network, which is preventing them from making and receiving calls.
This comes amid a weekend announcement that a new investor, LH Telecommunication Limited has acquired the struggling mobile network operator to transform it.
According to the subscribers, the network outage that started on Saturday persisted until Tuesday and has yet to be restored as of the time of this report’s filing.
The situation is worsened by the lack of communication from the telecom company to its customers over the issue.
Nairametrics attempted to reach the spokesperson of the company for comment on the matter but her line was also not reachable, while there was no response to a text message sent to her.
What the customers are saying
While the network outage coincided with the implementation of SIM blockage on some lines with unverified National Identification Numbers (NIN) issued by all the mobile network operators, it became clear that the 9mobile customers’ issue was different after the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) ordered all telecom operators to unblock all lines on Monday.
Lamenting her inability to make and receive calls on her line since Saturday, a 9mobile subscriber, Mrs. Tina Ajayi, who spoke with Nairametrics, said:
“I have not been able to make or receive calls, neither can I send out messages on my 9mobile line since Saturday. Each time I tried to make a call, the message I get is ‘your phone is not registered on a network, so you can only make emergency calls”
“Initially, I thought my line had been blocked, even though I had linked my NIN a long time ago. I later realized it wasn’t only me when two of my neighbours complained about the same issue on Monday. This is really frustrating,” she said.
Some subscribers of the telco have also taken their grievances to X, formerly Twitter, where they called out 9mobile over the issue. A 9mobile subscriber, @rchrd_mrtns, wrote:
“It’s high time I port my 9mobile line. The evil is enough. No network for days now. Today not even a single bar.”
It’s high time I port my 9mobile line. The evil is enough. No network for days now. Today not even a single bar. Tueh
— Martin$🐺 (@rchrd_mrtns) July 30, 2024
Another subscriber, @IzuIgwegbe also lamented via a post that read:
“9mobile has been down since Saturday night till now. No official statement, no message, or email. What sort of anyhowness is this? Only in Nigeria will such a business behave like this. If you’re experiencing the same thing, let’s jointly sue them.”
9mobile has been down since Saturday night till now. No official statement, no message or email. What sort of anyhowness is this. Only in Nigeria will such a business behave like this. If you're experiencing the same thing , let's jointly sue them. @9mobileng @9mobilengCare pic.twitter.com/LdMRbI220C
— Brainiack (@IzuIgwegbe) July 30, 2024
For @IfeRitsell, he got to know that his learning was not faulty when he went to 9mobile’s shop on Monday and he was told the telco was experiencing network downtime.
“Nigeria is such a wonderful country, it took me going to 9mobile office to realize my line isn’t faulty just that they’re having a network downtime. No communication to inform customers, imagine life without the internet or options. God help us,” he posted.
Nigeria is such a wonderful country, it took me going to 9mobile office to realize my line isn’t faulty just that they’re having a global downtime.
No communication to inform customers, imagine life without internet or options God help us.
Please text me on WhatsApp.
— JIN (@IfeRitsell) July 29, 2024
On Nairaland, many customers of the telecom company are also expressing their frustration over 9mobile’s network outage. One of the subscribers on the platform wrote:
“9mboile is definitely the worst network in Nigeria currently because I don’t understand how a mobile company will have no network for days and cannot, at least, communicate with its customers. Very appalling.”
Another 9mobile subscriber on the platform wrote:
“9mobile has no signal for 3 days straight till the moment of this post. Even though it’s been sold, no statement, no apology. In other words, we the customers don’t matter. If only Nigerians knew the power of boycotting, these companies wouldn’t dare all these insults.”
What you should know
While this may have been the longest downtime on the 9mobile network, it is one of the many times the telco has been recording downtimes.
When Nairametrics reached out to 9mobile’s spokesperson, Chineze Amafo, in April this year over the poor quality of service being experienced by subscribers on the company’s network, she said the experience might be due to downtime in some areas, which according to her is normal for all telecom networks.
“People may have a poor experience when there is downtime in certain areas, which is not peculiar to 9mobile. However, whenever such happens, we always strive to make sure the issues are resolved as quickly as possible,” she said.
The consistent downtime issue has many customers of 9mobile port to other networks. According to NCC data, a total of 9,000 subscribers moved from one network to another between January and March and 6, 443, representing 72% of subscribers that ported left 9mobile to other MTN, Airtel, and Globacom.
