The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has directed telecom operators across the country to promptly notify the public about major service disruptions on their networks.
Operators must explain the cause of the outage, identify the affected areas, and provide an estimated restoration time.
Additionally, when outages are planned, customers are to be notified at least one week in advance.
The new rule is detailed in the “Directive on Reportage of Major Network Outages by Mobile Network Operators (MNOs),” and is aimed at improving consumer experience and fostering timely resolution of network failures.
According to the NCC, Mobile Network Operators, Internet Service Providers, and last-mile service providers must also provide proportionate compensation, such as extended validity, if outages last beyond 24 hours.
This must be done in line with the Consumer Code of Practice Regulations.
The NCC categorises major outages into three groups:
1. Service interruptions affecting 5 percent or more of an operator’s subscribers or impacting at least five Local Government Areas due to events like fibre cuts, vandalism, or natural disasters.
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2. Unplanned outages affecting 100 or more sites, or five percent of a provider’s total network, lasting 30 minutes or longer.
3. Any outage that affects network quality in Nigeria’s top 10 states by traffic volume.
All operators are now required to report such outages via the NCC’s publicly accessible Major Outage Reporting Portal, which also identifies the source of the disruption.
Commenting on the initiative, Director of Technical Standards and Network Integrity, Engr. Edoyemi Ogor, said, “The Commission has trialed the reporting process and portal with operators for some months before issuing the directive.
“By providing consumer and stakeholders in the telecommunications industry with timely and transparent information on network outages, we are entrenching a culture of accountability and transparency.
“This approach also ensures that culprits are held responsible for sabotaging telecommunications infrastructure.”
He added, “This also aligns with our broader commitment to the effective implementation of the Executive Order signed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, which designates telecommunications infrastructure as Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII).
“It reinforces the need to safeguard these assets, given their centrality to national security, economic stability, and the everyday lives of Nigerians.”