NCC blames poor services on overstretched telecom capacity

From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has attributed the persistent poor quality of telecom services being experienced in Lagos, Abuja, and other major cities to overstretched network capacity caused by heavy usage in high-density urban areas.

The Commission made this known in its latest report, which detailed findings from a nationwide study conducted in partnership with broadband analytics firm, Ookla.

The study examined user experience and the state of network performance, with particular focus on data services.

According to the NCC, the surge in internet activity in Nigeria’s major cities has far outpaced existing network capacity, resulting in slow downloads, dropped calls, failed mobile payments, and buffering during video streaming.

“Overall, network capacity for data services across the country appears good. However, capacity issues have been observed in urban areas across all major operators, netwrok,” the regulator stated in the report.

It added that the congestion is most severe in city centers, where user density is highest, while rural areas experience little or no impact.

The NCC said the problem was not nationwide but localised, explaining that capacity restrictions are concentrated in urban zones, a situation it described as a localised issue tied to high-density areas.

To ease the strain on urban networks, the Commission urged telecom operators to intensify investment in both infrastructure and technology upgrades.

It recommended aggressive deployment of 5G technology and optimising the capacity of the existing 4G (LTE) networks to improve performance for users.

While national data shows minimal overall impact, the NCC noted that congestion in cities worsens during peak hours, directly affecting user experience. It said only targeted infrastructure expansion in these high-traffic areas could guarantee consistent service quality.