MTN Nigeria users are currently having problems making calls and utilising their data due to a prolonged outage on the company’s network.
However, the telecom provider has blamed the network outage on several fibre cuts, stating that its workers are working hard to restore normal services.
This comes on the same day that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has set as a deadline for telecom companies to block any connections that are not linked to a National Identification Number.
As the deadline approached, many customers who had been unable to make or receive calls on their lines began to question if the network operator had banned their lines.
However, in a statement made vis its support hand on X, MTN characterised the service disruption as follows:
“Dear Customer, you have been experiencing challenges connecting to the network due to a major service outage caused by multiple fibre cuts, affecting voice and data services.
“Our engineers are working hard to resolve this with services gradually being restored in some areas. “We apologize for the inconvenience and ask for your patience & understanding as the team works to restore full service as soon as possible.”
In another message sent directly to some of its customers, MTN indicated that the service outage affected all the regions of the country. According to the firm, the incident began at approximately 1.39 PM on Wednesday, February 28.
In Nigeria, fibre cuts have been a major contributor to the country’s chronically poor telecommunications services. This is most common during road construction, although it can also happen as a result of intentional vandalism.
According to the figures recently released by the NCC, Nigerian telecom industry spent N14 billion to fix no fewer than 59,000 fibre cuts recorded between 2022 and 2023.
The Commission also found that the industry saw over 35,000 fibre cuts in 2022 and over 24,000 in 2023.
The present MTN service disruption signals a regulatory action that may result in many subscribers being prevented from utilising all telecommunications services beginning February 29.
According to a directive issued by the NCC in December of last year, all Nigerian telecommunications operators, including MTN, Airtel, and Globacom, among others, must implement full network barring on all phone lines for which subscribers have not submitted their national identification numbers (NINs) by February 28, 2024.
In addition, those who submitted their NINs but were not verified will be fully prohibited.
NINs that have been filed but not confirmed will be blocked on or before March 29, 2024, if five or more lines are related to the unverified NIN.
Similarly, where less than five lines are linked to an unverified NIN, such lines will be banned on or before April 15, 2024.
The directive requires all affected subscribers to be validated (biometrics and biodata) before their lines can be unbarred.