MTN Nigeria, on Saturday, February 8, issued an apology to its customers over network disruptions in parts of Lagos State.
“Dear Customer, we sincerely apologise for the challenges experienced with internet services yesterday in parts of Lagos State. This has been resolved, and services are fully restored. Thank you for your understanding,” it said in a text message to some affected users. There was, however, no such message on their social media channels.
While the telecom company issued an apology, it failed to provide an explanation for the disruptions. The disruptions, which began on Friday, left many MTN users unable to make calls, send messages, or access data services.
Customers in various parts of the state expressed their frustration on social media, citing frequent call drops, slow internet speeds, and unreliable network connections.
“After one week of enabling and disabling airplane mode, I’m happy to announce I’m now a pilot. I want to use this opportunity to thank MTN for their ever-failing network. Without you, I won’t be what I am today,” a user wrote on X.
Friday’s network disruption is the latest in a series of service disruptions experienced by telecommunications users over the last year as customers of other telecom providers complained about difficulties accessing the Internet.
Experts have speculated that the network disruptions could be down to fibre cuts across the country, with MTN and Airtel reportedly experiencing nearly 80 fibre cuts daily.
Consequently, the Federal Government in August 2024 designated telecom infrastructure as critical national infrastructure, making it an offence to damage telco infrastructure such as fibre optic cables, data centres, and telecommunications towers.
Inadequate investments into telecom infrastructure have also been cited as a possible cause of the frequent disruptions. With telecom tariffs remaining the same for over a decade, telcos have warned that it leaves them unable to invest in infrastructure adequately.
However, this is expected to change with the Nigerian Communications Commission’s approval to raise tariffs. Still, operators caution that improvements won’t be immediate, as the industry will need time to adjust before connectivity gets better.
