Telecom subscribers in Nigeria have continued to express frustration over the quality of service being received from network operators, months after the 50% tariff hike that was expected to lead to improved service delivery.
From incessant network outages to slow internet speed, complaints across MTN, Airtel, Globacom and T2 are mounting by the day.
This was in spite of the multimillion-dollar investments in network capacity announced by the telecom operators after the price increment to boost service quality.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had also assured subscribers that one of the conditions given to the operators before it approved the 50% price hike in January was that they have to improve their service quality.
However, the operators have pinned much of the blame on recurring fibre-optic cable cuts and infrastructure disruptions, saying these are undermining efforts to expand network capacity.
Subscribers’ frustration
Nigerians have been venting their anger over the worsening service quality. From poor signal strength to intermittent outages, many say it’s becoming unbearable to stay connected despite higher costs.
“This is not a life I swear. There is no service in my sitting room or kitchen, only in my room, and sometimes no network at all. You can’t even enjoy the data you use your hard-earned money to buy. It’s crazy,” Tolu, a Lagos resident, lamented.
Another subscriber, identified as John, said he had to switch to three different networks last Sunday to be able to transfer money on his mobile app.
“If I did not have up to three different lines with me that day, I would have been in a serious mess. The frequency and length of network downtimes in this country are honestly frustrating!! Every single day, at some point, the network just disappears,” he bemoaned.
For Pelumi Ajayi, another Lagos resident, her frustration stemmed from her 5G router delivering 3G service.
“It’s been almost two months since I bought my 5G router, and all I have been getting is poor service. It only works in the middle of the night, and all I get is 1MBPs and this is supposed to be 5G”.
These comments mirror thousands of others from subscribers nationwide, highlighting the growing frustration with telecom operators who, they believe, have failed to match rising costs with improved service quality.
Telcos blame fibre cuts
Meanwhile, telecom operators said the current challenges with service quality are a result of an increase in fibre cuts and damage to telecom infrastructure across the country.
While lamenting billions of Naira being spent annually on repairs of damaged cables, the operators said they are also losing money to poor network services.
“It is not in the interest of any network operator that its service is poor because if you are unable to use the service, then we won’t be able to make money from you. When the service is good, you talk more, you use more data, and that is what gives us revenue,” an official of one of the telecom operators told Nairametrics on condition of anonymity.
He noted that rampant cases of fibre cuts have been draining the purse of the telecom operators as they keep spending on repairs while losing revenue during the period of the service outage in affected areas.
Highlighting the severity of the attacks on telecom infrastructure, Senior Manager at Broadbased Communications, Jude Ighomena, revealed that telecom operators lost an estimated N5 billion in 2024 due to infrastructure damage in Lagos State alone.
- According to him, over 2,500 fibre cuts were recorded in the state last year, causing widespread service disruptions and financial losses.
- He noted that Lagos’ busiest commercial districts—Ikeja, Lekki, and Victoria Island—are the most affected, with road construction and private developments frequently damaging underground fibre cables.
- Meanwhile, Alimosho and the Mainland areas are said to have become hotspots for fibre cable theft and vandalism.
NCC worried
The telecom regulator, NCC, had also recently expressed worry over the rising cases of damage to telecommunications infrastructure nationwide, revealing that MTN, Airtel, 9mobile, and other telecom operators now record an average of 1,100 fibre cuts every week.
Speaking at a forum in Lagos, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, Dr. Aminu Maida, disclosed that the operators also record an average of 545 access denial cases and 99 theft incidents weekly, all of which threaten service delivery, operational stability, and national security.
“These are not just numbers. They reflect a national emergency. Every fibre cut, every theft, and every case of sabotage contributes to dropped calls, failed transactions, interrupted emergency services, and economic losses,” Maida warned.
- The NCC boss stressed that the persistent damage to telecom infrastructure has become a major obstacle to Nigeria’s digital transformation goals.
- According to him, with the economy increasingly reliant on resilient digital networks, disruptions caused by vandalism and neglect are stalling progress.
Operators ramp up investments
Despite the current challenges, the telecom operators are doubling down on their investments in infrastructure to improve their service quality and meet the growing demands for data in the country
In the first half of 2025, MTN reported that it invested N565.7 billion to accelerate the expansion of its network infrastructure, marking a 288.4% increase in capital expenditure compared to the same period last year.
MTN said the surge in capex, excluding lease payments, was necessary to meet growing data traffic and improve service quality for its over 84 million subscribers.
A breakdown of the investments shows that MTN deployed 240 new 4G sites, expanded its fiber-to-home network, and began work on a new data centre to meet increasing digital demand.
Similarly, Airtel Africa, the parent company of Airtel Nigeria said it also increased capital expenditure in Nigeria to $39 million in the second quarter of 2025, up 1.7 from $38 million in the same period last year.
Airtel Nigeria in May this year, had announced plans to double its capital investment this year as it seeks to accelerate the deployment of 5G and expand its network coverage.
According to the telco, the new investment drive will cover a wide range of areas including critical infrastructure upgrades, rural network expansion, advanced data solutions, customer experience enhancements, and community-focused initiatives.
What you should know
In August last year, President Bola Tinubu signed an official gazette designating telecom infrastructure as critical national information infrastructure and making it a criminal offence for anyone to wilfully destroy such infrastructure in the country.
- According to the Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, the gazette, ‘Designation and Protection of Critical National Information Infrastructure Order, 2024’, is a significant step that would strengthen and protect investments in the ICT sector.
- However, that was not the first time such a declaration would be made. In June 2020, the immediate past Minister of Communications, Dr. Isa Pantami, announced a similar action by former President Muhammadu Buhari.
- Additionally, as part of measures to address the issue, the Federal Ministry of Works (FMoW) and the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy (FMoCIDE) formed a Joint Standing Committee on the Protection of Fibre Optic Cables in February this year.
- The primary mandate of the Committee is to establish and maintain effective communication and coordination channels between the FMoW, FMoCIDE, and the NCC to prevent and minimize damage to fibre optic cables during road construction and rehabilitation activities.
The impact of the committee has, however, yet to be felt as incidents of fibre cuts continue on a daily basis.
