The Nigerian Communications Commission has ordered all telecommunications operators to begin compensating subscribers for poor service quality experienced between November 2025 and January 2026, marking the first systematic deployment of the regulatory body’s compensation framework in a move expected to benefit millions of Nigerians who suffered service disruptions during the three-month assessment period.
NCC Executive Vice Chairman Dr. Aminu Maida announced the commencement of compensation at a media engagement in Lagos, explaining that the commission had concluded its network quality assessment across all local government areas for the period in question and had reached agreement with telecoms operators on the compensation framework.
Maida specified that compensation would be provided in the form of airtime top-ups to affected subscribers, but clarified that eligibility was restricted to those who had actively attempted to use their network and experienced service failure. Subscribers who made no transactions, calls, or data usage during the relevant period would not qualify for compensation.
“NCC has put mechanisms in place to make sure that all subscribers that qualify for compensation get the required compensation. Only those that attempted to make calls and could not make successful calls will be compensated. Those that did not make any transaction, call, or use data at all within that period will not be compensated,” Maida said.
On the forward-looking picture for service quality, Maida indicated significant improvement in network infrastructure investment, noting that while operators carried out updates on 300 sites in the previous year, commitments for the current year stood at approximately 12,000 site updates, of which 2,800 had already been upgraded, covering approximately 63 new sites through additional spectrum allocation, conversion of 2G and 3G sites to 4G, and the addition of 5G capacity.
MTN issued a statement assuring affected customers of adequate compensation, pledging that all customers within affected areas where service shortfalls were recorded would receive compensation for the November 2025 and January 2026 operating periods in accordance with the applicable regulatory framework. The carrier added that its ultimate objective remained the consistent delivery of high-quality services that eliminated the service disruptions that had made the compensation process necessary in the first place.
