By Abigail Mbah
The House of Representatives has given chief executives of Nigeria’s major telecommunications operators until November 4 to appear before its Ad Hoc Committee on Telecommunications Service Quality over persistent complaints about poor network performance, warning that arrest warrants will be issued against executives who fail to honour the summons.
The affected operators include MTN Nigeria, Airtel Nigeria, Globacom, Mafab Communications and other licensed telecommunications companies.
The committee is investigating widespread consumer complaints, including dropped calls, slow internet speeds, poor network coverage and inconsistent service quality across the country.
However, the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has questioned the approach adopted by the lawmakers, arguing that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) already has the statutory authority to monitor telecommunications service quality and sanction operators that fail to meet prescribed standards.
The association maintained that summoning telecommunications executives would not, on its own, resolve the underlying challenges affecting network performance.
Instead, ALTON urged the lawmakers to address structural problems confronting the industry, including frequent fibre-optic cable cuts, inconsistent right-of-way charges across states, multiple taxation, unreliable electricity supply to base stations, bureaucratic bottlenecks and insecurity around telecommunications infrastructure.
ALTON Chairman, Engr. Gbenga Adebayo, stressed that improving service quality requires sustained investment in network infrastructure, noting that such investments depend on a supportive regulatory and operating environment.
The association also pointed to recent interventions by the NCC, which reportedly resulted in compensation for more than 75 million subscribers affected by service shortfalls and over 6,500 network interventions aimed at improving service delivery.
Despite these measures, consumer complaints about poor telecommunications services have continued, highlighting the persistent gap between regulatory interventions and the quality of experience delivered to subscribers.
The dispute followed an earlier hearing held by the committee on October 28, where lawmakers rejected ALTON’s request to represent telecommunications operators collectively.
The committee insisted that each licensed operator must appear independently to account for its network performance, arguing that subscribers engage directly with individual service providers and should therefore be able to hold them accountable.
The November 4 deadline sets up a fresh confrontation between lawmakers and telecommunications operators over responsibility for improving service quality in Nigeria, as consumers continue to demand more reliable calls, faster internet connectivity and better network coverage.