Africa (Commonwealth Union) _ In a bold move to enhance service quality and consumer trust, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has rolled out a new directive mandating telecom operators to publicly report all major network outages while ensuring affected customers receive fair compensation.
The regulation applies to Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), Internet Service Providers (ISPs), and other last-mile service providers. These operators must now issue public alerts via media platforms detailing the cause, location, and estimated restoration time of any significant service disruption. For planned outages, consumers must be notified at least one week in advance.
The initiative aims to boost transparency, keep customers informed, and push operators to resolve service disruptions more swiftly. It also reinforces the importance of accountability in Nigeria’s digital infrastructure.
Under the new directive, operators are required to compensate subscribers—such as through extended validity periods—if a major outage lasts longer than 24 hours, in accordance with the Consumer Code of Practice Regulations.
The NCC defines “major outages” under three critical conditions:
- The NCC defines “major outages” as those that impact 5% or more of an operator’s subscriber base, or five or more Local Government Areas (LGAs).
- The term “major outages” refers to disruptions that impact 100 or more network sites, or 5% of all sites, and persist for at least 30 minutes.
- The NCC has updated the information regarding service degradation in Nigeria’s top 10 states based on traffic volume.
To ensure transparency, all such outages must be logged in real time through the NCC’s Major Outage Reporting Portal, accessible via www.ncc.gov.ng. The portal also identifies the responsible party behind each outage, be it due to vandalism, natural disasters, or third-party negligence.
Engr. Edoyemi Ogor, Director of Technical Standards and Network Integrity at the NCC, emphasized that the move supports the Federal Government’s push to classify telecom infrastructure as Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII).
“This marks a significant shift toward transparency and consumer empowerment. By holding operators and saboteurs accountable, we are safeguarding services that are vital to Nigeria’s economic and national security,” Ogor stated.
The Commission trialed the system with major operators before rolling it out nationwide, reinforcing its commitment to better digital governance and a more resilient telecom sector.
