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The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, has urged telecom operators in Nigeria to take urgent action to resolve persistent network challenges affecting service delivery across the country.
In a statement issued on Sunday, Tijani said the government had already created the necessary conditions for improved performance in the sector, adding that operators must now act to deliver better services to consumers.
According to the minister, “It is now the responsibility of telecom operators such as MTN Nigeria, Airtel Nigeria, Globacom, and T2 to take all necessary steps to resolve network challenges and deliver the level of service Nigerians expect.”
Tijani said that when the administration assumed office, it identified Nigeria’s connectivity challenges as structural, driven by years of underinvestment in infrastructure and by limitations that affected operators’ ability to deliver quality service. He said the government responded with both long-term and immediate interventions.
On the long-term plan, Tijani said, “We have secured funding, led by the World Bank, and established the framework for a special purpose vehicle with Project BRIDGE, to deliver nationwide open access fibre infrastructure.”
He stated that fibre deployment would commence alongside new tower rollouts through NUCAP before the end of the year, while satellite capacity would also be expanded.
According to him, these investments are expected to resolve “the foundational gaps in our digital infrastructure over the next two to five years and permanently transform connectivity across Nigeria.”
Tijani said the goal is practical and focused on access, noting that “a small business owner should be able to access reliable, high-speed fibre internet directly at their home or shop, not rely solely on dongles or unstable mobile connections.”
On immediate sector reforms, he said the government took steps to stabilise the telecommunications industry, including tariff adjustments, designation of telecom infrastructure as critical national infrastructure, tax harmonisation efforts, and broader macroeconomic reforms such as the floating of the naira and removal of fuel subsidies.
He stated that these measures have created a more stable environment for operators, adding that they are now “operating in a more stable, transparent, and market-driven environment and have returned to profitability.”
Tijani explained that this development means operators now have both the capacity and resources to fix network challenges and improve service delivery. He said the conditions for better service delivery have now been established and that telecom companies, including MTN Nigeria, Airtel Nigeria, Globacom, and T2, must act accordingly.
Simultaneously, he said the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has been fully empowered, without hindrances, to monitor performance, enforce service standards and ensure compliance across the sector.
