The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has directed all licensed telecom operators in the country to publicly announce major service outages and compensate affected subscribers accordingly, The Nation reports.
The new directive, announced in a statement signed by NCC’s Acting Director of Public Affairs, Mrs. Nnena Ukoha, mandates Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), Internet Service Providers (ISPs), and other service providers to notify consumers via media platforms about any significant service disruptions. These announcements must include the cause of the outage, areas affected, and the estimated time for service restoration.
Under the new regulations, telecom companies are also required to issue compensation—such as validity extensions—to customers for outages that last longer than 24 hours. This aligns with the Consumer Code of Practice Regulations and is part of the NCC’s broader strategy to enhance service quality, transparency, and consumer protection in the sector.
The NCC defines a major outage as any incident that affects 5% or more of an operator’s subscriber base or service in five or more Local Government Areas (LGAs); the shutdown of 100 or more sites for at least 30 minutes; or significant degradation of service in any of Nigeria’s top 10 states by traffic volume.
To ensure compliance, the Commission has activated a Major Outage Reporting Portal, accessible via the NCC website, where operators must log all such incidents. The portal, open to the public, will also identify parties responsible for infrastructure damage, such as fibre cuts or acts of vandalism.
Director of Technical Standards and Network Integrity, Engr. Edoyemi Ogor, noted that the system had been trialled with operators before formal rollout.
“By providing consumers and stakeholders in the telecommunications industry with timely and transparent information on network outages, we are entrenching a culture of accountability,” Ogor said.
He added that the directive aligns with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Executive Order classifying telecommunications infrastructure as Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII)—underscoring its importance to national security, economic development, and daily life.
This directive is expected to improve consumer confidence, reduce complaints, and protect the integrity of Nigeria’s telecom infrastructure.
