The President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria, Tony Emoekpere, has assured Nigerians that persistent telecommunications network challenges across the country will not continue beyond this year.
Emoekpere gave the assurance on Tuesday during an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief, where he stated that several interventions, reforms, and infrastructure projects were already underway to address service disruptions affecting millions of telecom subscribers nationwide.
“There have been positive things already being done, projects have already been put in place, and commitments have already been made to regulators by the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs). Most in general, I don’t think these issues should surpass this year,” he said.
For years, Nigerians have continued to complain about poor network quality, dropped calls, unstable internet connectivity, rapid data depletion, and increasing telecom tariffs.
The Federal Government recently intensified pressure on operators to improve service quality, insisting that consumers must receive better value for money.
Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, had on Sunday stated that the government had already implemented reforms aimed at stabilising the telecom sector and improving operational conditions for operators.
Emoekpere said industry stakeholders were actively engaging with regulators and service providers to resolve the lingering challenges.
“We continuously engage with the regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission, and have been having several meetings across all stakeholders within our sector,” he said.
“But the operators and also the infrastructure providers and also the service providers, so all hands are on deck; there is a myriad of engagement going on regarding this,” he added.
The ATCON president also addressed concerns by subscribers over data subscription renewals and alleged disappearance of unused data.
“What happens is once you renew your subscription, your existing data is added to your new data. Data does not expire; once you renew your subscription, your data gets added to your new subscription,” he explained.
According to him, the NCC has an established consumer complaints mechanism to address issues raised by subscribers against telecom operators.
“There is a consumer arm of the regulator where all these things are being handled. NCC has a consumer arm where reports are made by consumers, and if there are issues like this, they are being tackled by the operators,” Emoekpere said.
He maintained that telecom operators had no interest in delivering poor services to customers, stressing that network issues affect the entire industry ecosystem.
“It’s no operator’s best interest to provide poor services. No operator wakes up in the morning to provide a service and is resting, seeing that my service is poor, and they sit down and relax,” he said.
“It’s not in anyone’s interest, definitely not the operators, industry, and ecosystem, so everybody is challenged by these problems, and all hands are on deck to solve these challenges, and things are already being done,” he added.
