Nigeria’s telecoms regulator has removed more than 450 illegal signal boosters and fined operators a combined ₦45 million as it intensifies enforcement efforts to improve network quality across the country.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) disclosed the actions in a formal response to Nigeria’s minister of communications and digital economy, Bosun Tijani, detailing steps taken in 2025 to strengthen oversight, improve consumer experience, and sanction defaulting operators.
According to the regulator, enforcement teams dismantled over 450 unauthorised signal boosters across the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in 2025. While often deployed by individuals and businesses to improve indoor coverage, the devices were found to interfere with surrounding network cells, degrading service quality for other users.
The NCC said follow-up analysis showed immediate improvements. At least 70 network sites recorded measurable performance gains after the boosters were removed, based on operator data, crowdsourced network information, and a noticeable drop in related consumer complaints.
Quality of service remains a major pain point for Nigerian telecoms users, and the commission said addressing it will stay central to its regulatory agenda in 2026. The focus, it added, will be on greater transparency, faster response times, and outcomes consumers can directly feel.
As part of that transparency push, the NCC said it has expanded public disclosures to pressure operators into improving service quality. One such move was the approval of tariff adjustments in January 2025, which the regulator described as a “calibrated intervention” to keep the industry financially viable while enabling continued network investment.
Those investments appear to be flowing. The NCC said Nigeria’s telecoms sector attracted more than $1 billion in fresh capital in 2025, alongside the rollout of over 2,850 new and upgraded network sites nationwide.
On consumer protection, the regulator said it adopted a more targeted approach to complaint management, focusing on the most common issues reported by subscribers: poor service quality, rapid data depletion, and refunds for failed transactions.
Operators are now required to notify customers ahead of major outages and maintenance activities. In addition, a Major Outages Reporting Portal on the NCC’s website provides real-time information on network disruptions, their geographic scope, and steps being taken to resolve them.
In October 2025, the commission also launched a crowdsourced National Coverage Map, allowing users to compare operator performance across locations using anonymised, near real-time data. Quarterly industry performance reports, broken down by state and region, are now being published as well.
To tighten enforcement, the NCC said it now receives daily, granular performance data from mobile network operators and infrastructure providers. It also reinstated nationwide drive tests in 2025—its first in nearly a decade—covering both urban and rural areas to independently verify operator-reported data.
Addressing widespread complaints about data depletion, the regulator pointed to tariff simplification guidelines issued in November 2024, which required operators to reduce the number of tariff plans and standardise disclosures to make pricing easier for consumers to understand.
Routine audits and spot checks continue. A fourth-quarter 2025 audit of 965 base stations in the FCT uncovered 5,557 infractions, with the NCC saying 81% were resolved before the end of the year.
On failed airtime and data recharges, the commission said refunds exceeding ₦10 billion have already been facilitated in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria, telecom operators, and financial institutions. A formal refund framework is expected to be launched in March 2026.
The NCC confirmed that Globacom, Airtel, and infrastructure provider IHS were fined a combined ₦45 million in October 2025. Additional enforcement cases, carrying potential liabilities of ₦12.4 billion, are still undergoing regulatory review.
Beyond enforcement, the regulator said it approved several spectrum trades and reassignments, reallocating about 50 MHz of underutilised spectrum. The reassignment of an additional contiguous 10 MHz to Globacom helped boost its average 4G download speeds to around 15 Mbps by late 2025, up from roughly 9.5 Mbps previously.
The commission also revealed that Nigeria’s first Spectrum Roadmap, covering 2025 to 2030, has been drafted and is expected to be released by March 2026, pending board approval.
