Telecom
As NCC Moves to Address Industry Challenges
Insecurity which manifests in wanton theft and vandalization of telecommunications equipment is costing service providers in the country several millions every month.
Findings show that at least three generating sets, a number of air conditioners, batteries and generator parts are stolen every day as armed robbers break into the shelter at base stations at will.
Theft and vandalization of the equipment result in the base stations being cut off from the network meaning that subscribers within the affected base station will be experiencing poor service because the microwave equipment that transmits calls from subscriber’s phone within the base station to the nearest switching centre for completion will cease to work as a result of outage.
It would be recalled that service providers have since resorted to the use of generators to power their operations as a result of unreliable state of public power supply.
Highest hit by the activities of vandals are Global System of Mobile communications (GSM) operators: MTN, Globacom, Zain and Etisalat.
This situation has been giving operators and managed services providers who now manage some base stations for service providers’ serious concerns.
Mr. Wale Goodluck, corporate service executive, MTN, said that the company spends some N100 million a month on security guards and police that provide security on their equipment.
Other service providers including internet service providers are also affected by the activities of the vandals and are believed to spend money on security.
The presence of security guards has not deterred thieves from carrying out their nefarious activities as they have had to kill security guards at base stations in a bid to steal.
Vandalisation is an act before now was synonymous with the oil and gas sector of the country’s economy, where petroleum pipe lines are vandalized with the aim of siphoning petroleum products from the pipes.
The growth of telecommunications in the country as witnessed in the spread of coverage by global system for mobile (GSM) communications saw this ‘bad word’ extending its tentacle to the sector that has been adjudged the fastest in terms of growth in Africa. It started as activities of areas boys who depended for settlement from telecom operators before they could site their base stations in their areas and has today, grown to menacing propotions.
Some two years ago, Nigeria witnessed it worst quality of service issue in GSM service delivery that led to Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) slamming blanket ban on MTN and Zain from running promo and directed that they pay compensation to their subscribers; the operators argued that they were not responsible for the poor quality of service attributing it to vandalization and theft of their equipment.
This argument was not acceptable; maybe NCC and National Assembly saw it as an afterthought as such issue was not raised before the hammer fell on them. But, today, the matter that was relegated to the background has turned out to be a subject for discussion by the industry stakeholders.
Prof. Dora Akunyili, minister of Information and Communications, few weeks ago held stakeholders’ forum where she mandated NCC under the leadership Dr. Bashir Gwandu, acting executive vice chairman of the commission to address problems that are affecting operators in delivering quality service and reducing tariff.
To this end, NCC hosted operators to a forum in Lagos on ways to move the industry forward. At the parley, the issue of vandalization, theft and multiple taxes were identified as major challenges operators face in their effort to deliver quality service as well as reduce tariff.
NCC and telecommunications operators also resolved to address problems associated with delivering of broadband internet services such as citing internet hot spots at airports, spectrum harmonization and national fibre optic initiatives.
NCC also decries high charges by state governments in granting operators right of way to deploy fibre optic infrastructure which is inimical to the growth and development of telecom in the country. The commission however, called for streamlining of ‘right of way’ approval cost.
Dr. Gwandu noted that none availability of transmission infrastructure is partly responsible for high cost of rendering service in the industry especially for small operators, and therefore reiterated the determination of the commission to identify bad spots on existing national fibre optic rings which are vandalized with the view of resolving them.
Impact on operators
According to Mr. Karl Toriola, chief technical officer, MTN, said that vandalizaion of about 500 sites and sabotage of MTN’s transmission infrastructure led to significant downtime last year. These figures may have doubled going by increase activities of these vandals and thieves.
Toriola noted that repeated and multiple cuts to its fibre optic network disrupt service, defeat redundancy and self healing architecture of fibre rings as damage to one microwave tower will often affect several others in line of sight causing widespread transmission outrages. “Increasing community agitation and militancy across the six geographical zones with greatest incidence in Lagos, Niger-Delta, South-East also affected our services,” he said. According to him, about 50 sites were rendered inaccessible per day on account of community issues. He added that increasing robbery and banditry hamper the ability to provide reactive maintenance within preferred best practice response times. Zain on the other hand lost 500 generators last year which has doubled as at last month. Although Globacom and Etisalat have not disclosed the number of its generators and other equipments lost to vandalism and theft, it is believed that it could still be in the same range with its competitors as they are not operating in a different environment. However, these thieves overpower security guards guiding these base stations with sophisticated weapon to carry out their unscrupulous act.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that there are a total of 20,000 base stations as at the end last year. GSM operators are using generating sets because of the unreliable nature of Nigeria’s public power supply.
Options
Mr. Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, Association of Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (Alton) suggested that the Federal Government should present a bill to the National Assembly, to advance a law that will stipulate stiffer penalties of up to 10 years imprisonment for apprehended vandals of base stations and other infrastructure like optic fibre cables.
According to Adebayo, Alton was actually at the forefront of the plans to sponsor the bill at the National Assembly, even as he expressed optimism that having been a problem that affects all, the bill would not have much problem being passed into law.
He cited the scenario of the 80s when it was a serious offence punishable by a long stretch of prison sentence, to vandalize Nitel property and wondered why the same protection is not extended to today’s telecom operators who are largely private firms.
He said his association has over time, articulated and packaged submissions to the Federal Government by writing to relevant agencies, ministries and related authorities over what they have been going through in the hands of vandals and thieves who steal and damage facilities, and the need to be given some kind of protection to enable them focus on delivering better quality of service to the subscribers.
“We cannot fold our arms and watch things continue the way they are going,” he said.
Adebayo cautioned that with the astronomical growth of telecome subscribers on the networks, government should at least provide those basic things to help the operators in providing quality and seamless services or risk having the networks collapse with inestimable drastic effects on the economy of the country.
Franchising option should be also looked into by operators to address this menace especially in rural areas, just as Zain’s Rural Acquisition Initiative (RAI). Zain’s RAI is targeted at low income consumers in most rural and poorest parts of Nigeria. Franchises selected for the programme are the drivers of the programme as local entrepreneurs and in turn recruit representatives from their locality to sell services and protect local base in their area. They are given necessary technical, marketing, sales and financial support by Zain to help grow their business.
Fola Odufuwa, founder of eShekels limited, a pioneer ICT researcher in sub-Saharan Africa, said franchising has ability to speedily start a new business based on a proven template. It also ensures expansion of operations more rapidly.
According to him, Nigerian entrepreneurs do not really need subsidies but a level playing field, access to capital and fair access to existing networks, adequate profit sharing structure and legal protection for their investments.
In the context of telecoms, it means that the service provider transfers to the small enterprenuer, the whole process including technical expertise, training systems, marketing, management methods and relevant information on provision of telecoms services to rural areas for an agreed fee or proportion of profit on the business.
Industry analysts say franchising can to an extent, assist in cubing theft and vandalization of telecomm equipment. For instance, if operators franchise their base stations, products and distribution outlets in a community to an indigene of such community, chances are that such franchise will provide adequate security for those equipments knowing fully well that he or she has stakes in the business and if anything happens to the equipment, he stands to lose money. Moreso, his people will see such equipment as belonging to a local not the major network operator and then be more willing to protect them.
The telecom franchise programme initiative is designed to involve rural residents in base station management and distribution programme, creating jobs, wealth, and improved products and services availability in the process.
About nine Nigerian states suffered network disruptions in the first week of June 2025 due to multiple fibre cuts, according to data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) live incident portal.
As a result, the issues subscribers face include prolonged blackouts affecting voice, SMS and data services.
The affected customers are Airtel and 9Mobile subscribers in Lagos, Enugu, Delta, Akwa Ibom, and Abia.
The nationwide disruptions have underscored vulnerabilities in telecom infrastructure.
The outages have left customers stranded, impacting everything from basic communication to digital transactions and business operations.
Data from the platform of the NCC showed that residents of Ikorodu in Lagos are currently experiencing disruptions in SMS, voice, and data services from 9Mobile following a power outage that began in the early hours of June 9, 2025.
The outage has been traced to a diesel shortage at the network’s switch site, leading to a complete power failure.
As of now, the issue has persisted for nearly nine hours, with restoration efforts still ongoing.
Other affected customers are Airtel subscribers. Airtel customers in Ughelli South, Delta State, have been facing a prolonged disruption in data services due to an ongoing power outage that began on June 7, 2025.
The outage stems from multiple generator faults at site DL0231 — DG1 has a faulty injector pump, while DG2 remains unstable due to the same issue.
When Okezie Kelechi lost his SIM card, the one he had used since his secondary school days, he didn’t think much of it.
He was shocked weeks later to find out it had been reassigned to someone else.
“I had no idea that if your SIM card has been inactive for more than three months, they will resell it,” he wrote on social media.
“They recycled my SIM card and sold it. Same number, I have had it since secondary school.”
Kelechi’s story is far from unique.
Across Nigeria, more people are waking up to the realities of what is known as SIM recycling, a process where telecommunication companies reassign inactive phone numbers to new users. While allowed under existing rules set by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the practice is now raising serious concerns over data privacy, fraud, and national security.
A regulatory gap with real-life consequences
Experts in Nigeria’s telecommunications and security sectors are increasingly warning that the NCC’s failure to establish stronger oversight of SIM recycling is endangering millions.
“Beyond the data breaches, this issue posed a big threat to national security. I have always maintained the need for a central data system in Nigeria,” said Daniel Makolo, a retired senior official of the Nigerian Immigration Service to The ICIR.
“There’s much more to this if we don’t pay attention to an appropriate central data mining system that gives us a history of each person in the country.”
Ayodele Ajayi, an engineering professor at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, explained the security risks from his own experience.
“I used to have one Airtel number, but I travelled out. Before I came back, it was reallocated to another user,” he said.
Because phone numbers are tied to Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs) and National Identity Numbers (NINs), reassigning them can expose people to identity theft and financial loss.
The NCC should find a way to notify users when their numbers are at risk of being deactivated, Ajayi urged.
He also recounted an incident he witnessed at a bank, “a woman was narrating how she used to have a particular number but lost it. Somebody saw the number and started using it.
The woman said that before she could act, the person who got the number had started using it and had connived with a bank office to almost wipe out all her savings.
“Upon arriving at the bank to check her account balance, she found out that she had only N50,000 left from about N5 million she had saved up.”
Ajayi emphasised that while recycling is a practical move for telcos to manage limited number availability, more caution is needed.
“Let people know so they can migrate their data to another line, particularly now that almost every channel we use is linked to the phone number, including our bank verification number (BVN)”, he stated.
Kelechi recalled that his number was reassigned to another user despite still being active on WhatsApp.
“I used to wonder why random Hausa boys were always messaging me and calling me baby.
He added that “when I finally visited MTN office in Nigeria, I was told the line has been sold to someone else. E pain me, I no go lie.”
Another social media user Elizabeth Kandi, @DrETKandi warning others about the hidden risks of SIM inactivity alleges that when reassigned the new user can have access to your USSD banking.
“If your Nigerian number was connected to your Nigerian bank accounts for USSD, if you didn’t use it for long, the network provider can disconnect and sell the number to someone else…but that person would be able to access your money via USSD,” Kandi wrote.
Her post underscores the growing fear that recycled numbers, still linked to sensitive services like mobile banking, can open the door to fraud and financial loss
Why do Telcos recycle SIMs?
At a virtual stakeholder meeting in April 2025, NCC Executive Vice Chairman Aminu Maida acknowledged the concern noting that with the evolving landscape, it has become necessary to address emerging challenges that could undermine consumer rights.
He further noted that the Quality-of-Service Business Rules 2024 stipulate that a prepaid line without a revenue-generating event for six months must be deactivated.
This means if a prepaid SIM card goes unused for six months (i.e., no calls, texts, or data use), it must be deactivated.
If the inactivity continues for another six months, the number may be recycled/reallocated to a new user.
In Section 28 of the NCC’s draft business it is stated that all recycled SIMs must be purged of any NIN attached to allow a new user to link their own NIN. But real-world cases suggest that in practice, many recycled numbers are not properly sanitised before reassignment.
The business case for SIM recycling
For telecom operators, recycling isn’t just a technical choice, it’s economic.
Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), explained that subscribers do not have ownership rights to SIM cards in their possession, as the telecom operators pay procurement and recurring costs for each registered subscriber.
He further explained that SIM cards are “recycled” to prevent number exhaustion while reducing the cost of generating and maintaining them.
“SIM cards are reassigned to reduce the dormant subscribers, as telcos are profit-oriented organisations,” Adebayo said.
In the exercise of its powers under Section 70 of the NCC Act (2003), the commission made provisions for the development of a new numbering plan for Nigeria. Under the provision, telcos are obligated to pay a sum that is the ‘numbering plan fees’ to maintain their allocated numbers.
Airtel Nigeria has restated its commitment to transparency, customer safety, and regulatory collaboration following recent regulatory enforcement by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
The NCC had served Airtel Nigeria a notice of sanction over some alleged SIM infractions in Kano State and consequently slammed a fine of N104 million on the telecommunications firm.
NCC had in a letter, addressed to Airtel Nigeria Chief Executive Officer, dated May 26, 2025, signed by Chizua Whyte, head, Legal and Regulatory Services, and Mohammed Dari, acting head, Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement, on behalf of Dr Aminu Maida, executive vice chairman, NCC, titled: ‘Notice of Sanction: Non-Compliance with SIM Registration Directive in Kano,’ where the infractions were spelt out.
According to NCC, Airtel infractions include unauthorised SIM registrations using 198 unapproved devices, resulting in 8,275 registrations outside the 281 verified Airtel shops; premature activation of 63 MSISDNs prior to proper SIM registration, contrary to the provisions of the Registration of Communications Subscribers Regulations 2022; failure to conduct effective eyeballing, leading to 407 fraudulent SIM registrations with multiple NINs, contrary to the provision of the Registration of Communications Subscribers Regulations 2022 and failure to provide satisfactory explanation for SIM registrations conducted between 12.00 a.m and 6.00 a.m.
On the matter, the letter revealed that there were some letter exchanges and subsequent meetings on the infractions between the telecom regulator and Airtel, starting from January 12, 2025, March 19, 2025, March 24, 2025, and March 27, 2025, respectively.
Apparently, after investigations and responses from Airtel, the NCC was not satisfied and this led to the fine of N104 million, which was to be paid within seven days from the date the letter was issued.
Specifically, NCC fined Airtel N5 million, N12 million, N81.4 million and N5 million for the infractions respectively.
Reacting, Airtel, expressed appreciation to the NCC for uncovering the infractions, describing the development as a critical opportunity to strengthen internal processes and further align with national security and regulatory expectations
“We thank the NCC for its vigilance and continued support in protecting the integrity of the telecoms ecosystem. Airtel takes these findings seriously and is already implementing corrective measures,” a spokesperson for the company said.
Only recently, Airtel Nigeria’s CEO recently announced that the company is doubling its investment in the country, focusing on network expansion, fiber-to-the-street rollout, 4G/5G deployment, customer care upgrades, and digital infrastructure security.
These investments reinforce Airtel’s long-term vision of building a resilient and forward-looking telecom network that meets the evolving needs of Nigerians.
“Our systems are constantly evolving to stay ahead of scammers and malicious actors,” the spokesperson added. “This is not just about compliance; it’s about our responsibility to the millions of Nigerians who rely on Airtel daily.”
Airtel Nigeria says it will continue to work closely with the NCC and other arms of government to ensure high standards of service and safety for all telecom users nationwide.
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