Telecom
ICAF Says NCC, Operators Need Stakeholders’ Support for Improved QoS
Industry Consumer Advisory Forum (ICAF) has advocated the need for stakeholders at the federal, state and local levels, both in public and private sectors, to work with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to collectively contribute towards improving the Quality of Service (QoS) delivery by MNOs in the country.
L-R: Hafsat Lawal, Head, Consumer Protection and Policy Development, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC); Igho Majemite, Chairman, Industry Consuemr Advisory Forum (ICAF) and Aliyu Ibrahim, Head, Consumer Protection and Advocacy, NCC, during the ICAF first quarter meeting in Abuja.
The advocacy group stated this during a presentation made at its first quarter 2020 meeting held in Abuja.
At every meeting of ICAF, a corporate member is required to make a presentation about a topical issue in the sector.
At this meeting, the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) made the presentation focused on challenges of quality of service delivery in telecoms sector.
In the presentation, ICAF noted that the challenge of poor QoS in the telecom industry is an issue that requires collaborative efforts of the National Assembly as well as state and local governments, to tackle.
Explaining further, ICAF stated that the collaboration is both urgent and necessary because telecoms has long migrated from being a mere enabler of communication, to an industry that has become widely acknowledged as being the most important enabler of socio-economic activities in contemporary society.
The advocacy body said as with every other sector of the economy, the telecommunications sector has its own peculiar challenges that impact on the ability of telecoms operators to deliver seamless services to customers.
ICAF listed the challenges to include infrastructure damage, bombed sites due to insurgent activities, illegal site lock-outs, unstable power supply and prolonged power outage, denial of statutory permits for infrastructure roll-out, high cost of Right of Way (RoW), and use of substandard devices by the consumers, among others.
Elaborating further, ICAF presentation indexed a situation where telecommunications operators continue to suffer various forms of infrastructure damage across the country, and noted that such a challenge usually leads to sudden outages or poor QoS.
ICAF recalled that at the onset of the insurgency in the North-East region, operators were also at the receiving end of the destruction that was visited on the infrastructure in the region. He cited Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states as areas where hundreds of BTS sites were either bombed or affected due to dependence on a bombed site. Such vandalism resulted in loss of coverage in so many places including Dikwa, Gamboru, Monguno, Bama, Konduga and Damaturu.
“Operators have been able to restore a lot of these sites, while restoration at other facilities are still pending due to security concerns. In some cases those that were restored have been bombed again, but efforts are currently ongoing in collaboration with agencies in the security services and state governments, to secure sites,” ICAF noted in the presentation. It also assured participants that “with these efforts it is hoped that there will be noticeable improvement in coverage, leading to reduced dropped calls in the affected areas.”
The presentation further explained that the failure of some governmental authorities and their subsidiary agencies to grant the statutory approvals required by operators to build more sites is another problem. ICAF affirmed that “as the existing infrastructure get to full capacity, operators need to build more facilities to accommodate excess call, SMS, data and Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) traffic. Unfortunately, in the past seven years, the FCT Administration, in particular, has not granted approvals for telecommunications sites to be built in the Territory.”
On vandalism and theft, the ICAF presentation observed that this has been a recurring experience of the operators as unknown hoodlums increasingly break into sites, kill or injure the guard on duty and cart away valuable equipment such as the power generating sets, base transceiver station (BTS) equipment and air conditioners among other facilities. It said these criminal activities immediately lead to network outages in the area covered by facilities that suffered vandalism.
ICAF, however, noted that no operator desires to have poor service delivery because of the increased competition that has been engendered by the telecoms regulator.
According to ICAF, “we are in a highly competitive market, where we have multiple players and we should understand that there is no operator that wants to have downtime on its network as that can lead to loss of subscribers to rival operators. The NCC has heightened this with the introduction of the Mobile Number Portability, which makes it easier for a subscriber that is not satisfied with his or current network in terms of service delivery to migrate to other preferred network.”
The presentation further said: “This means if there is any challenge that is affecting any operator’s ability to deliver better experience to its numerous customers, the logical thing is for that operator to take steps to address the challenge so that it will be able to retain its customers. But most of these challenges are far beyond what operators can control. The NCC has been doing a lot to get the buy-in of all relevant stakeholders to address some these challenges, but not much inroad has been recorded because not all stakeholders in the ecosystem are fully supporting the regulator’s efforts at addressing these issues in order to ensure that telecom consumers get top-notched services.”
Proffering solutions to the challenges, ICAF said while the regulator has been taking QoS measurements and sanctioning the erring operators, it must also be acknowledged that it has been making efforts toward addressing all the identified challenges faced by the operators in order to improve service delivery on the networks to telecoms consumers.
“However, if we all agree that telecoms is central to our socio-economic development, then the NCC’s efforts need to be supported by all stakeholders, especially the National Assembly through the passage of the Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) Bill and; we at ICAF also urge the state governors to be considerate about policy measures in order to encourage massive deployment of telecoms infrastructure in their states, as being championed by the NCC,” the advocacy group recommended in the presentation.
Telecommunication companies have threatened to withdraw their Unstructured Supplementary Services Data (USSD), services from banks over what they called misinformation.
MTN Nigeria, Airtel, Globacom and 9Mobile- the telcos disclosed that the banks’ notice to their customers on the new billing system and airtime deductions for USSD services was misleading.
Also, Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) also denied that the directive was from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
USSD is done via shortcodes on mobile phones and allows bank customers to make transactions in places with limited or no internet service.
Recall that banks earlier this week claimed that NCC has directed them to begin charging them from their airtime rather than from customers’ accounts.
The notice from the banks read in part: “In line with the directive of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), please be informed that effective June 3, 2025, charges for USSD banking services will no longer be deducted from your bank account.
“Going forward, these charges will be deducted directly from your mobile airtime balance in accordance with the NCC’s End-User Billing (EUB) model.
“Under this new billing structure, each USSD session will attract a charge of ?6.98 per 120 seconds, which will be billed by your mobile network operator.
“You will receive a consent prompt at the start of each session, and airtime will only be deducted upon your confirmation and availability of the bank to fulfil this service.
“If you do not wish to continue using USSD banking under this new model, you may choose to discontinue use of the USSD channel.”
Reacting, ALTON, umbrella body of telecom operators in Nigeria, said the banks’ notice is a gross misinformation deliberately hatched to suit their selfish interests.
Hence they threatened to withdraw network support to the banks’ USSD services.
Engr Gbenga Adebayo, chairman of ALTON told Vanguard: ” I don’t understand why the banks are twisting agreements and distorting information just to favour their selfish interests. In the first place, the information wasn’t a directive from the NCC but a joint regulatory agreement between the NCC and the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN witnessed by the telcos and the banks. The agreement was that if the banks finally cleared all USSD debts owed to the telcos by June 2, 2025, they are free to migrate to the end-user billing method, so long as the model of migration is transparent and agreed upon by the telcos.
“The reason for that clause was because the telcos insisted that the process of migration is such that will not allow a customer to be billed twice; in other words, that a subscriber would not have his airtime deducted and also have his or her money deducted for same services from his or her bank account.
” As we speak, some of the banks have cleared their debts, but the majority are yet to do so. So, even if all the modalities of migrating to end-user billing have been perfectly carried out, the implementation cannot even begin because the banks are yet to clear the USSD debt owed to the telcos.
“Our position now is that if that is the way the banks want to treat the agreement, we may withdraw support for their USSD services. It is not a must-have. They can do without it. But, they should clear the debts as agreed,” he added.
MTN Nigeria has announced plans to embark on a massive capital expenditure (CAPEX) drive in 2025, committing nearly N900 billion to significantly enhance network service quality across Nigeria.
Dr. Karl Toriola, CEO, MTN Nigeria,
The substantial investment, more than double the combined CAPEX of approximately N440 billion spent in 2023 and 2024, underscored MTN’s aggressive strategy to address persistent service quality issues and meet growing customer and regulatory expectations.
Dr. Karl Toriola, CEO, MTN Nigeria, detailed this unprecedented financial commitment during a recent interview on Arise TV, emphasizing that improving service quality is the company’s paramount message for the year.
He highlighted a clear understanding and expectation from both the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and security agencies for improved network quality.
A primary focus of this increased CAPEX will be on putting additional capacity in a city like Lagos, particularly in Abuja, where you have a lot of buildings coming up, you need additional sites because there are coverage issues.
Beyond these critical urban centers, the investment aims to bolster network resilience and ensure power stability for its infrastructure nationwide.
This includes proactively addressing site outages by ensuring timely payment for operational necessities such as diesel for generators, a persistent challenge in the Nigerian operating environment.
Toriola outlined a comprehensive upgrade process, which involves placing orders formally, opening letters of credit, and then the equipment gets shipped in and installed.
He added that MTN will be acquiring new sites and laying fiber to the base station to create better stability” where necessary.
While the immediate CAPEX is geared towards improving existing service quality and capacity, this investment aligns with MTN’s broader goals of enhancing financial inclusion in underserved rural areas, suggesting a long-term vision for network expansion and service improvement that extends beyond metropolitan areas.
Subscribers can anticipate tangible improvements in service quality, with a significant improvement in quality of service expected by the end of the second quarter or early in the third quarter of 2025, according to Toriola.
“This year is all going to be about capital expenditure on an aggressive basis to fix quality of service issues (and) meet both the regulators’ and the public’s expectations,” he affirmed, reiterating MTN’s steadfast focus on customer experience through substantial capital investment.
Telecom regulators and industry leaders from across the Middle East and Africa gathered in Cairo last week to chart a data-driven future for the region.
In a region where digital transformation is accelerating at unprecedented speed, connectivity intelligence firm, Ookla and Egypt’s National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA) joined forces to organise the Telecommunications Regulatory Summit
Themed ‘Harnessing Data and Technology for Superior QoS’, the summit focused on how data, particularly crowdsourced insights, can transform regulatory strategies across the region.
The summit attracted stakeholders from over 30 countries, including delegates from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and World Broadband Association (WBBA), who engaged in high-level discussions on optimising network performance and accelerating digital inclusion.
Karim Yaici, lead industry analyst for the Middle East and Africa at Ookla, said the event set the tone for the growing value of data-driven decision-making.
“Access to and the use of crowdsourced data contribute to making more informed decisions, fostering transparency and ensuring that citizens in the MEA region benefit from high-quality, accessible and affordable connectivity,” he said.
The experts underlined that crowdsourced data is becoming a critical complement to traditional regulatory methods.
They agreed that it helps identify service gaps, prioritise infrastructure investments, and drive innovation.
With broadband speeds now closely tied to GDP growth and productivity, accurate performance data is seen as key to socio-economic advancement.
Dr. Hossam Abdel-Mawla, vice-president of technical affairs and quality of service at NTRA, stressed that the summit was pivotal in fostering regional collaboration.
“By actively sharing best practices and exploring innovative data-driven strategies, we are shaping a future where telecom regulations ensure digital inclusion and economic growth across the region,” he said.
In a key session, Ahmed Nabawy, director of client services at Ookla, presented findings on 5G performance in Egypt and Tunisia.
He demonstrated how Ookla’s unified data platform, powered by AI, enables operators to analyse 5G-capable device density and prioritise high-impact rollout areas.
The summit also explored the shift from conventional network quality metrics to more user-centric Quality of Experience models. These advanced analytics tools promise to enhance transparency, improve accountability, and ultimately deliver better connectivity experiences for all.
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