The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has issued a final warning to telecom tower companies to significantly improve service quality by the end of August 2025 or face regulatory sanctions.
Dr. Aminu Maida, the NCC’s Executive Vice Chairman, gave the directive at a high-level stakeholder meeting on Thursday in Abuja.
In addition to executives from mobile network operators (MNOs) like MTN, Airtel, and Glo, the meeting included senior representatives from some of Nigeria’s top tower companies, such as IHS Towers, American Tower Corporation (ATC), and Pan-African Towers.
The meeting was convened to tackle Nigeria’s ongoing service quality issues, particularly infrastructure reliability, which has become a growing concern across the country’s telecom ecosystem.
Thousands of cell sites managed by TowerCos
Tower companies operate the physical backbone of Nigeria’s mobile networks, managing thousands of cell sites that support voice and data services.
However, increasing consumer complaints about dropped calls, frozen data sessions, and erratic connectivity have drawn attention to frequent power outages, equipment malfunctions, and delayed maintenance at these sites.
In August 2024, the NCC revised its Quality of Service (QoS) regulations to include infrastructure providers, expanding oversight beyond MNOs.
Tower firms are now legally required to meet new Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) introduced under the updated framework.
“It’s been eleven months since those new regulations came into effect. That’s more than enough time for all parties to align with the performance standards expected of them,” he said.
He also dismissed the notion that service lapses could be excused by payment disputes or cash flow challenges.
“Operators must fulfil both their technical and financial responsibilities. Performance expectations are non-negotiable,” he said.
Dominant Nigeria’s TowerCos
IHS Towers is the dominant player in Nigeria’s tower infrastructure landscape, operating between 16,000 and 19,000 sites and accounting for about 62 percent of the country’s co-located infrastructure.
ATC follows with 8,270 towers, while Pan-African Towers manages between 760 and 1,000 sites, though some remain dormant.
Their failure to meet service-level standards is increasingly seen as a drag on Nigeria’s growing digital economy, where reliable connectivity is critical to sectors like education, commerce, and remote work.
Compliance mechanism to hold TowerCos accountable
To enforce compliance, the NCC has launched a Major Incident Reporting Portal to ensure public disclosure of significant outages.
Additionally, the Commission will soon unveil performance dashboards on its website, allowing users to track the KPIs of both tower firms and MNOs.
Dr Maida reiterated that companies have until the end of August 2025 to resolve persistent service issues or risk enforcement actions which include fines, licence reviews, or operational restrictions.