Minister Promises Stable Service Quality of  Telecoms Sector in Five Years

Oghenevwede Ohwovoriole in Abuja

The Minister of Communications, Innovations and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, has assured telecoms consumers that with the current efforts of the government, the level of public sector investments and those of Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), the quality of service (QoS) in the sector will  be stabilised in the next two to five years.

The minister stated this in a statement he personally signed on Monday. 

He said: “When we assumed office, it was clear that Nigeria’s connectivity challenges were structural, driven by years of underinvestment in infrastructure and constraints that limited the ability of operators to deliver quality service.

“We have addressed this on two fronts.

First, the long term structural solution.

We have secured funding, led by the World Bank, and established the framework for a special purpose vehicle with Project BRIDGE, to deliver nationwide open access fibre infrastructure. 

“Deployment of fibre will commence alongside new tower rollouts through NUCAP, before the end of the year even as we also expand our satellite capability.

“These investments will address the foundational gaps in our digital infrastructure over the next two to five years and permanently transform connectivity across Nigeria.

“What this means in practical terms is simple. A small business owner should be able to access reliable, high speed fibre internet directly at their home or shop, not rely solely on dongles or unstable mobile connections. That is the level of meaningful connectivity we are building towards,” he said in the ‘Statement on Telecom Service Quality in Nigeria.’

On the immediate stabilisation of the sector, the minister said they took a hard look at the sustainability, and made the necessary decisions to restore it. 

“This included allowing tariff adjustments, alongside broader reforms such as the designation of telecom infrastructure as critical national infrastructure, efforts to harmonise taxes, and macroeconomic reforms including the floating of the naira and the removal of fuel subsidies.

“As a result, operators are now operating in a more stable, transparent and market driven environment and have returned to profitability.

“This is important as it means operators now have both the capacity and the resources to fix outstanding issues within their networks and improve the quality of service delivered to Nigerians.

“Let me therefore be clear, the conditions required for improved service delivery have now been established.

“It is now the responsibility of telecom operators such as MTN Nigeria, Airtel Nigeria, Globacom, and T2 to take all necessary steps to resolve network challenges and deliver the level of service Nigerians expect.

“At the same time, the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has been fully empowered, without interference, to carry out its mandate of monitoring performance, enforcing service standards, and ensuring compliance across the industry,” the minister stated.

He assured Nigerians that they would continue to rely on the periodic reports of the Nigerian Communications Commission  (NCC) to track network performance, as well as feedback from Nigerians, including complaints and experiences shared across public platforms, to engage both the commission and operators even more actively in the days, weeks and months ahead.

He added that: “Going forward, we expect to see clear and measurable improvements in call quality, data performance and coverage.”

Tijani stressed that where operators deliver, it will be recognised, and “where they do not, the commission is expected to take appropriate regulatory action”.