NCC Threatens to Fine Telcos over Poor QoS

Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has issued stringent quality of service (QoS) regulations for telecommunications companies, effective immediately.

The new QoS Regulations 2024 just released by the Commission sets specific parameters for the different network segments of the telcos covering 2G, 3G, and 4G and it focuses on parameters such as Drop Call Rates, Call Setup Success Rate, Traffic Congestion, among others.

Failure to meet the specified parameters will attract a N5 million fine, plus an additional N500,000 daily penalty for each infraction.

The NCC aims to achieve a 50% quality of service target by the end of the year, alongside other ambitious goals, including boosting broadband penetration to 70% by 2025.

The new QoS regulation may have been prompted by the recent 50% telecom service target set by Dr. Bosun Tijani, minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy.

NCC said it has resolved to meet this target before the end of this year.

According to a recent statement from the telecom regulator, other targets in Tijani’s Strategic Agenda 2023, include boosting Nigeria’s broadband penetration rate to 70% by the end of 2025; delivering data download speed of 25Mbps in urban areas and 10Mbps in rural areas by the end of 2025; and to provide coverage for, at least, 80% of the country’s population, especially the underserved and unserved populations by the end of 2026.

The new regulations come as telcos face challenges in mitigating the impacts of Naira devaluation and high inflation, which may affect their ability to invest in network capacity and maintain quality services.