NCC backs Minister Bosun’s ultimatum, highlights effort to fix poor network quality

By Martin Ekpeke

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has officially responded to the recent ultimatum issued by the Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, who declared that the era of poor network quality in Nigeria must come to an end.

In a statement signed by Nnenna Ukoha, Head of Public Affairs, the NCC validated consumer frustrations regarding dropped calls and sluggish data, aligning itself with the Minister’s directive.

The regulator detailed its extensive ongoing efforts, massive infrastructure investments, and strict regulatory enforcement aimed at permanently resolving the country’s Quality of Service (QoS) challenges.

Acknowledging a prolonged period of under-investment in the sector, the NCC highlighted a massive, ongoing network expansion and modernization cycle. During the 2025 financial surge, Mobile Network Operators injected over ₦2.13 trillion into network upgrades, while Tower Companies contributed an additional ₦373.8 billion, a funding effort that successfully added and upgraded over 2,800 telecom sites nationwide.

This momentum, according to the commission, has accelerated into 2026 with ambitious expansion targets, as the NCC has secured industry commitments to deploy and upgrade over 12,000 sites this year alone, with nearly 3,000 already completed.

Furthermore, the rollout of next-gen connectivity and high-speed infrastructure is moving rapidly, featuring the addition of faster 4G and 5G layers, expanded fiber backhaul, and the deployment of over 730 new 5G sites across 27 states so far in 2026.

Finally, to achieve optimum spectrum utilization and maximize network capacity, the NCC has reallocated underutilized radio spectrum among the top three Mobile Network Operators and rearranged spectrum blocks to ensure continuity and boost overall efficiency.

The NCC’s crowdsourced and field-based analytics reveal gradual performance improvements, though the commission notes that the pace must increase.

Despite these gains, external risks heavily disrupt network reliability. In 2025, the commission recorded over 27,000 avoidable fiber-cut incidents caused by road construction and vandalism.

To combat this, the NCC is partnering with the Office of the National Security Adviser to operationalize the Presidential Order on Critical National Information Infrastructure, successfully disrupting equipment theft syndicates and establishing safer construction governance with the Ministry of Works.

The NCC emphasized that its patience with non-compliant operators has run out. Under the Quality of Service Regulations 2024 (gazetted in July 2024), operators were given a strict, finite transition window to upgrade their equipment.

On Regulatory Enforcement: “The transition period was not open-ended. The Commission commenced enforcement from November 2025, including consumer compensation measures for poor service quality and additional investment obligations on Tower Companies where performance failures were identified.” — NCC Statement

Moving forward, the NCC promises to enforce aggressively and take heavy regulatory action against operators that fail to demonstrate measurable improvements. To ensure transparency, operators are now mandated to log major outages in real-time on the NCC’s Major Network Outages Reporting Portal.

While the NCC is weaponizing its regulatory powers to enforce compliance, it reiterated that bridging Nigeria’s digital divide requires a “whole-of-society approach.” The commission is currently finalizing a market study to create a wholesale internet segment, enabling smaller, localized ISPs to deliver cheaper broadband to homes, schools, and businesses.

The NCC is calling on federal, state, and local authorities, as well as host communities, to protect critical telecom infrastructure and foster an environment that secures Nigeria’s digital future.