The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has issued a directive requiring telecom operators to promptly notify customers of significant service disruptions.
In a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja, Nnenna Ukoha, Acting Head of Public Affairs at the Commission, said the alerts must include details such as the cause of the outage, the areas affected, and the expected time for service restoration, using appropriate media platforms.
The directive also requires that customers be informed at least seven days in advance of any planned service disruptions.
“This mandate applies to all mobile network operators, internet service providers, and other last-mile service providers”, the statement said.
It further stated that operators must now provide appropriate compensation such as validity extensions—if a service outage lasts longer than 24 hours, in accordance with the Consumer Code of Practice Regulations.
The statement explains that the Commission identifies three types of major outages.
These include any network operational issue such as fibre cuts caused by construction, access challenges, theft, vandalism, or force majeure events that affect at least five percent of an operator’s subscriber base or span five or more Local Government Areas (LGAs).
It also covers unplanned outages or complete isolation of network resources affecting 100 or more sites, or five percent of the operator’s total sites—whichever is less—or any single cluster experiencing a disruption lasting 30 minutes or more. Lastly, it includes any outage that significantly degrades network quality in the top ten States based on traffic volume, as periodically specified by the Commission.
In support of this initiative, the Commission has mandated that all major outages must be reported by operators through the Major Outage Reporting Portal, which is publicly accessible via the Commission’s website, www.ncc.gov.ng.
The portal not only provides real-time information on outages but also identifies the parties responsible for the disruptions.
Edoyemi Ogor, the NCC’s Director of Technical Standards and Network Integrity, explained that the portal had undergone several months of testing to ensure it supports the Commission’s goals of transparency and accountability in holding saboteurs responsible.
“We trialed the reporting process and portal with operators for months before officially issuing the directive,” he said.
By offering consumers and stakeholders timely and transparent updates on network outages, the Commission is fostering a culture of accountability and transparency. This measure guarantees that those responsible for sabotage of telecommunications infrastructure are identified and held accountable.
Ogor further emphasised that this initiative aligns with the broader commitment to implementing the Executive Order signed by President Bola Tinubu, which classifies telecommunications infrastructure as Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII).
He noted that protecting these assets is crucial due to their vital role in national security, economic stability, and the daily lives of Nigerians.
