By ABT NEWS www.abtnews.net
LAGOS, NIGERIA — Amid mounting frustration and a recent class-action suit from subscribers over erratic telecommunication services, MTN Nigeria has shed light on the severe bottlenecks impeding seamless connectivity across the country.
Speaking during an “Ask Me Anything” session with journalists in Lagos, Tobechukwu Okigbo, the Chief Corporate Services and Sustainability Officer at MTN Nigeria, clarified that the acute network challenges are largely due to technical constraints, environmental factors, and an incredibly challenging operating landscape.
According to Okigbo, one of the primary culprits behind network congestion is the heavy reliance on mobile networks by Nigerians. “In Nigeria and most of Africa, the way our networks are designed is to substitute for everything: your network serves as your mobile phone, your landline, your internet access, and everything in communication,” he explained. This overwhelming dependency means that bandwidth is consumed rapidly, leading to severe congestion. Furthermore, he noted that mobile network quality is sensitive to environmental occurrences, including ordinary rainfall.
The explanation comes on the heels of the controversial 50% tariff increment implemented by Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) in 2025. Many Nigerians expected an immediate boost in service quality following the hike, but Okigbo highlighted a significant time lag between financial investments and visible infrastructure upgrades. He explained that telecoms equipment manufacturers, such as Huawei and ZTE, operate on a “made-on-request” basis. Consequently, procuring new base stations involves lengthy lead times spanning manufacturing, customs clearance, and securing appropriate deployment sites.
Beyond technical limitations, infrastructural vandalism and exorbitant operational hurdles remain a massive thorn in the flesh for operators. Okigbo revealed that MTN Nigeria suffers between 27 to 45 fibre cuts daily. “A fibre cut in Kogi can affect network quality in Abuja,” he stated. While operators attempt to splice severed cables to restore service, repeated cuts degrade the signal strength entirely, forcing the company into the costly venture of laying brand-new cables.
Despite the current administration finally declaring telecom infrastructure as Critical National Infrastructure—a long-sought-after victory for the sector—vandalism remains rampant. To compound these woes, telecom operators face extortionate rent demands from landlords housing base stations, some of whom resort to arbitrarily shutting down base station controllers without considering the broader impact on network quality.
Addressing assumptions that operators might be deliberately stifling service quality to maximize profit, Okigbo vehemently dismissed the notion. He argued that poor networks directly translate to severe revenue losses for the company. “If the network is up and radiating and nobody is using it, we are losing money. If the quality is bad, we are losing money. So it’s to our benefit for the quality to be good,” he stated. He pointed out that operating costs do not decrease during network downtimes, as generators must constantly run to power base stations nationwide. Notably, in 2023 alone, MTN Nigeria expended over ₦800 billion merely to keep the network operational, without accounting for new investments.
Ultimately, while the telecom giant insists it is working around the clock to optimize service delivery, Okigbo’s revelations underscore the harsh realities of operating in the Nigerian ecosystem. “No matter what, we are in Nigeria; every once in a while, Nigeria will happen to us,” he remarked.
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