Telecom
The Need for Operators to Expand Call Centres
Telecommunications sector of the country economy has witnessed over the past nine years tremendous growth in different sphere, aside growth in number of Nigerians who now have access to communications tool known as telephone, service delivery has also recorded growth.
What use to be the traditional services that both code division multiple access (CDMA) and Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) started with which is voice has been expanded to include such as services as internet, video among others. All these are made possible by technological upgrade embarked upon by operators in the industry.
The nature of services delivery by telecommunications operators whether voice or data is a system that allows service providers to install or set up telecommunications equipment at a particular location far from its operational base and deliver services to people within that coverage area.
What this means is that a telephone or Internet service provider that is based in Lagos with its main transmission equipment installed in Lagos can deliver services to such locations as in Sokoto or Uyo by simply installing another transmission equipment and transceiver station that will transmit calls from the sundry locations to the main switching centre probably in Lagos.
Subscribers to the service in Sokoto or Uyo as the case may be will enjoy the service without having to see the people rendering the service but agents not directly employed by the service provider as well as their equipment. The question that rises is how can these subscribers located far from the operational base of the operator reach out to the operator to resolve issues arising from service delivery? Such issues as recharging of phones, where recharge card numbers have been scratched off, Sim card issues among others. These issues are addressed through telephone contact to the operators’ call centre located mostly at operator’s operational base.
A call centre is a centralized office or building used for the purpose of receiving and transmitting a large volume of request by telephone. A call centre is operated by a company to administer incoming product support or information inquires from consumers. Outgoing calls for telemarketing, clientele, product services, and debt collection are also made through a call centre. In addition, a call centre also receives fax, live chat, e-mail among others.
A call centre is often operated through an extensive open work stations that includes a computer for each agent, a telephone set/headset connected to a telecom switch, and one or more supervisor stations. It can be independently operated or networked with additional centres, often linked to a corporate computer network.
Increasingly, the voice and data pathways into the centre are linked through a set of new technologies called computer telephony integration (CTI).
Most major businesses use call centres to interact with their customers. Examples include utility companies, mail order catalog retailers, and customer support for computer hardware and software. Some businesses even service internal functions through call centre. Examples of this include help desk such as the ones banks have open to address issues arising from Automated Teller Machine transactions, and sale support.
Call centres are different from customer care, as the later refers to an office designated for physical resolution of issues associated with service provision. Call centres technology is subject to improvements and innovations. Some of these technologies include speech recognition and speech synthesis software that allows computers to handle first level of customer support, text mining and natural language processing to allow better customer handling, agent training by automatic mining best practices from past interactions, and many other technologies to improve agent productivity and customer satisfaction. Automatic lead selection or lead steering is also intended to improve efficiency both for inbound and outbound campaigns, whereby inbound calls are intended to quickly land with the appropriate agent to handle the task, while minimizing wait times and long list of irrelevant options for people calling in, as well as for outbound calls, where lead selection allows management to designate what type of leads go to which agent based on factors including skill, socio-economic factors and past performance. The concept of the Universal Queue standardizes the processing of communications across multiple technologies such as fax, phone and email.
Few years ago some telecommunications service providers advertised non-existent call centre numbers and this was quickly addressed by Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). But today, the issue is no longer none existence of call centre numbers, but inadequate facilities at call centres to be able to take inquires and respond to such inquires even as services being delivered by operators especially GSM and CDMA operators have expanded. For instance, at inception these operators were providing basically voice service as technology has converged voice and data services which position them to expand their service offering to data and internet. To this end, as services are expanded so are issues arising from services increases thereby requiring operators to expand their call centres for effective service delivery. When operators rolled out service in 2002 they were rendering basically voice service, but with advancement in technology which now enables they to delivery internet and video, so is the need for them to expand both customer care centres and call centres to effectively handle issues from the expanded service offerings.
The inability of telecommunications service providers to address issues associated with their service through contact centers led to NCC providing its own contact centres that will interface with subscribers and operators. Mrs. Lolia Emakporie, director, Consumer Affairs, Nigerian Communications Commission NCC said that the establishment of contact centre by the commission has became necessary in view of several complaint by telecom consumers of luster attitude of service providers in addressing subscribers complaint about their service. She added that calls to NCC contact center is toll-free and on 0800CALLNCC, with multi-lingual dedicated agents in English, Pidgin, Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba languages. The contact centre is to be operated on behalf of the commission by Interra Networks that will handle phone calls and emails from the 43 million and growing subscriber base on range of issues, but will be primary focused on resolving any dispute between the consumer and their service providers. The NCC will use Interras Business process Outsourcing (BPO) services to get ‘closer’ to the Nigerian consumer.
Through their outsourcing service provider, Apherion Outsourcing, Interra provides a host of BPO services which include Contact centre services, document management services, human Resource management and payroll Processing and Data Entry and Processing.
Service providers’ call centres have experienced changes since 2002, then GSM operators were running the centres by themselves and provided enough staff to take calls though then subscribers were not as it is today. Then, callers to these centres were meant to talk to human beings and did not wait for a long time before they are answered. As subscribers of the operators increases the number of calls coming to their contact centres increased, and they found out that operating the call centres requires huge investment in human resource and in an attempt to operate a cost effective call centre, as well as to reduce what they classified as hoax calls which are calls not made to the centre without presenting a problem but rather seeking interaction with the lady recipient as the case may be, that some operators introduced Interactive Voice Response system at their call centres. Interactive voice response (IVR) is a technology that allows a computer to detect voice and keypad inputs. IVR system can respond with pre-recorded or dynamically generated audio to further direct users on how to proceed. IVR system can be used to control almost any function where the interface can be broken down into a series of simple menu choices.
It has become more common in industries that have recently entered the telecom industry to refer to an automated attendant as an IVR. This means that when discussing an IVR application, it is important to ensure that the person you are talking to understand the term to mean the same thing as you do. Generally-speaking, those with a traditional telecom background are more likely to refer to an Automated Attendant and IVR as separate things, whereas those from an emerging telephony or VoIP background are more likely to use the term IVR to define any kind of telephony menu, even the most basic Automated Attendant. Call centres use IVR system to identify and segment callers. The ability to identify customers allows the ability to tailor services according to profile. It also allows the option of choosing automated services. Information can be fed to the caller allowing choices such as: wait in the queue, choose an automated service, or request a callback. The use of computer telephone integration (CTI) allows the IVR system to look up the Calling Line ID (CLI) on a network database and identify the caller. This is currently accurate for about 80% of inbound calls. In the cases where CLI is withheld or unavailable, the caller can be asked to identify themselves by other methods such as a PIN or password. The use of DNIS will ensure that the correct application and language is executed by the IVR system. IVR is often criticized as being unhelpful and difficult to use due to poor design and lack of appreciation of the caller’s needs. Some callers object to providing voice response to an automated system and prefer speaking with a human respondent.
A properly designed IVR application should provide the caller’s needs promptly and with a minimum of complexity.
It is against this backdrop that telecom subscribers in the country are agitating to the use of IVR as they are expecting human beings to attend to them and not machines.
In view of all these challenges, arises the question of how telecommunications services providers can improve on the efficiency of their call centre in order to meet both NCC standard as well as the increasing needs of their subscribers?
To this end, what readily comes to mind is outsourcing of the service to a different company other than the operator to enable them face their core function of service delivery. The way such arrangement is design enables the outsourced company to generate complaints either on hour basis to technical section as the case may be of the operator to ensure that such complaints are resolved at the shortest possible time.
This initiative has been adopted by MTN and Zain while GloMobile is on the process of adopting the initiative.
Industry watchers that spoke to Nigeria CommunicationsWeek are of the view that outsourcing is a good initiative as well as the use of IVR. But advise that subscriber be allowed the option of either talking to human being which may attract extra cost or machine at no cost. They say explained that in view of the literate level in our society such option is evitable especially when those that are not well educated call to the centres.
Telecom
Telcos Resume SIM Card Sales after 2-Week Halt

Telecommunications operators have resumed full SIM swap and related services following a four-week nationwide outage linked to the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC)’s migration to a new verification platform.
The outage rendered millions of subscribers unable to perform SIM-related tasks such as swaps, replacements, and activations.
Operators in the industry say the disruption began on June 26, 2025 when telcos temporarily halted SIM registrations and swaps due to unforeseen technical challenges during the transition to NIMC’s upgraded identity verification system.
The migration was mandated to enhance the integrity and efficiency of national identity management but caused major service interruptions across all Nigerian networks.
However, July 21, both MTN and Airtel confirmed via their social media handles that SIM swap services have now fully resumed.
MTN announced: “SIM swaps have now resumed. We can confirm that NIMC services are fully operational and appreciate their support in the migration to a new platform for NIN verification services for the telecommunications industry.
In a public update issued via its MTN Nigeria Support handle on X (formerly Twitter), MTN confirmed that SIM swaps have now resumed.
Telecom operators complained that the portal was unreliable or inaccessible, which resulted in the suspension of SIM swaps, number porting, and new SIM registrations, even though NIMC maintained that the platform was operating as intended.
Unexpected technical difficulties arose during the switch to the new platform, according to the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria.
Real-time NIN verification for SIM registration, replacement, and network migration was impacted by these issues.
“Unexpected technical difficulties have surfaced, impacting real-time NIN verification for SIM registration, replacement, and porting, following a recent directive from the National Identity Management Commission mandating Mobile Network Operators to transit to a new identity verification platform,” ALTON stated in a previous joint statement signed by Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, and Damian Udeh, publicity secretary.
Telecom
Nigeria, Others Achieve 84% Adult Mobile Phones Penetration

The World Bank has affirmed that 84 per cent of adults in low-and middle-income economies, including Nigeria, own personal mobile phones.
The bank in its Global Findex 2025 report said mobile phone ownership was widespread and nearly everywhere. It said data from the Global Findex 2025 Digital Connectivity Tracker, revealed that “86 per cent of adults worldwide, and 84 per cent of adults in low- and middle-income economies, own personal mobile phones.”
The report pointed out that mobile phones and the internet had become widespread and essential to daily life in every economy around the world.
A earlier overview had indicated that Nigeria had a high mobile phone penetration rate, with estimates around 85 per cent to 87 per cent in 2024.
This translates to over 200 million mobile connections, making Nigeria a leading market in Africa for mobile phone ownership and usage. While the overall penetration is high, there’s a growing trend towards smartphone adoption, with forecasts predicting over 140 million smartphone users by 2025.
According to DataReporter, a total of 150 million cellular mobile connections were active in Nigeria in early 2025, with this figure equivalent to 64.0 per cent of the total population.
However, note that some of these connections may only include services such as voice and SMS, and some may not include access to the internet.
There were 107 million individuals using the internet in Nigeria at the start of 2025, when online penetration stood at 45.4 percent. Nigeria was home to 38.7 million social media user identities in January 2025, equating to 16.4 percent of the total population.
These headline stats offer a great overview of the “state of digital” in Nigeria at the start of 2025, but in order to make sense of how digital trends and behaviours have been evolving over time, we need to dig deeper into the data.
According to the World Bank, “as of 2024, individual ownership of mobile phones reached 86 per cent of adults worldwide.
“For many people, barely an hour goes by without their using a mobile device to make a call, ext a friend, read the news, access business information, post a meme on social media, pay for something, play a game, engage with a colleague or a customer, or search for information.
“As access to and use of digitally connected technologies increase, people, businesses, and governments place an increasingly high priority on online interactions. “Digitally connected technologies have clear, well-documented benefits.”
It further highlighted that access to mobile phones and the internet was associated with reduced poverty, increased consumption, and more employment for individuals in lowand middle-income economies.
“Women also experience these benefits, as internet access enables access to flexible jobs3 and has been shown to increase female labor force participation. “Mobile phones also facilitate information sharing.
For instance, in agricultural contexts, farmers’ access to real-time prices and buyer demand data can inform their decisions on where to sell, enhancing market efficiency and reducing the distances they would otherwise travel to get the best return for their product and time.
“Internet access also helps create jobs and aids individuals and countries in exporting goods and services,” it added. The World Bank further noted that owning a mobile phone furthermore enabled financial access through mobile money and other mobile financial services.
It added that these financial accounts and services, typically offered by mobile network operators or fintech firms and accessed via networks of local agents, were associated with lower rates of poverty, increased consumption and savings,and greater resilience to economic shocks.
Telecom
Sophos Secures Leadership Spot in 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection

Sophos, a global leader of innovative security solutions for defeating cyberattacks, today announced that it has been named a Leader in the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms (EPP), marking the 16th consecutive time the company has received this recognition.
Sophos has been recognized in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms (EPP) since the inaugural publication for this category in 2007.
Sophos’ market-leading endpoint security solutions include Sophos Endpoint powered by Intercept X, Sophos Extended Detection and Response (EDR/XDR), and Sophos Managed Detection and Response (MDR).
Over 300,000 organizations trust Sophos endpoint security solutions to defend against cyberthreats, including advanced remote ransomware attacks and active adversaries.
Unique to Sophos, the solution includes adaptive defenses that automatically disrupt attackers by dynamically adjusting protection levels based on threat context.
“Sophos’ strength lies in its prevention-first strategy, designed to stop breaches before they start, adapt defenses in real time, and strengthen detection and response when it matters most,” said Kyle Falkenhagen, SVP, Product Management, Sophos. “We believe that receiving this recognition in the highly competitive endpoint security market for 16 consecutive reports reflects our relentless focus on developing innovative solutions that stay ahead of the global threat landscape and the adversaries we face every day.”
Sophos and Secureworks: The future of protection, detection, and response
Following Sophos’ acquisition of Secureworks in February 2025, combining two leading and complementary portfolios to offer a comprehensive suite of solutions for small, midmarket and enterprise organizations.
Secureworks Taegis XDR customers can use Sophos Endpoint to elevate their cyber defenses, at no additional charge, delivering both improved protection and return on investment.
The integration of Secureworks also adds a new Counter Threat Unit (CTU) to the Sophos X-Ops advanced threat response joint task force, further expanding the rich threat intelligence that informs all customers’ defenses.
Backed by Sophos’ advanced security technologies and a broad network of intelligence contacts and partners, the CTU plays a critical role in identifying and tracking threat actors and analyzing anomalous activity, uncovering new attack techniques, threats, and major shifts in the threat landscape.
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