By Gabriel Ameh
Nigeria’s once-celebrated telecom success story is now facing renewed scrutiny as millions of subscribers continue to battle poor network quality, dropped calls, and sluggish data speeds.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), in partnership with global network analytics firm Ookla, has identified urban capacity gaps as one of the key factors behind the country’s deteriorating service quality.
This finding marks a critical moment in Nigeria’s digital journey, once hailed as a continental success story for its rapid mobile adoption and connectivity growth. The National Broadband Plan (2020–2025) had set ambitious targets including achieving 70 percent broadband penetration by 2025 — but the current reality reveals a widening gap between policy aspirations and on-the-ground experiences.
According to the NCC, the problem is not merely coverage but capacity as Nigeria’s urban centers struggle with increasing user density, vandalized infrastructure, and slow network upgrades. These challenges have turned everyday connectivity into a frustrating experience for millions of subscribers.
Telecom economist Celestine Ukpong emphasized that resolving Nigeria’s network crisis requires a multi-dimensional, data-driven approach anchored on transparency, collaboration, and regulatory innovation.
“We need urgent urban network expansion to meet growing demand, stronger protection for telecom infrastructure, and incentives that encourage investment and infrastructure sharing,” Ukpong stated.
Industry experts also advocate for policy reforms to safeguard critical infrastructure, tax and import incentives to lower capital costs for operators, and consumer accountability systems to ensure transparency in billing and service quality.
The NCC’s data partnership with Ookla represents a shift toward evidence-based regulation, allowing the Commission to accurately identify underperforming areas and compel service providers to improve.
However, despite these policy moves, consumers remain skeptical. For many Nigerians, the test of progress will come only when they can make uninterrupted calls or stream content without persistent buffering.
Until then, the contest between Nigerians and poor network service remains a defining struggle in Africa’s largest telecom market — a challenge the NCC and industry stakeholders must urgently address to restore confidence and sustain Nigeria’s digital transformation.
