Telcos recorded 9,077 service outages in Q2 – NCC

Major mobile network operators recorded 9,077 cases of service outages on their networks in the second quarter (Q2) of this year, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has stated.

It said the outages resulted in unexpected disruptions to operators’ network quality of service (QoS) delivery and intermittent quality of experience (QoE) by the consumers.

Its Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management, Mr. Adeleke Adewolu, who spoke during the first Virtual Telecoms Consumer Parliament (VTCP) hosted by the Commission in Abuja, explained that of the 9,077 service outages recorded by the operators, 3,585 were caused by incidences of denial of access to telecoms sites for maintenance.

He said 4,972 were triggered by incidences of fibre cuts from construction and vandalism while 520 cases were as a result of incidences of generator and battery theft at sites.

Adewolu, however, noted that in a proactive step to mitigate the challenges, the NCC had swiftly responded by taking major decisions to mitigate any unforeseen challenges that may cause serious disruptions in service delivery to the consumers throughout the period of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said: “The Commission approved resource sharing by operators throughout the period of COVID-19 pandemic. These include fibre optic cables and other resources in the event of cable cuts and other unforeseen developments.

“We also ensured that the service providers meet the needs of their teeming consumers by securing the Right of Passage (RoP) for all telecommunications officials and staff for easy movement during the lockdown. This was to ensure ease of movement to service base stations and other telecom facilities and equipment.”

Adewolu urged stakeholders to join hands with the Commission to enlighten citizens on the need to protect telecom infrastructure in their domain without which QoS delivery will be hampered adding that the numerous complaints received from consumers by the Commission since the outbreak of the pandemic were indicative of the widening gap between the consumer QoS and the QoE provided by the service providers, which, according to him, needed to be addressed.