Nigeria’s telecommunications regulator has directed all network operators to begin compensating subscribers with airtime credits for poor service experienced late last year, in what analysts describe as the country’s most assertive enforcement of consumer protection standards in years.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Executive Vice Chairman, Dr Aminu Maida, announced the directive during a media breakfast meeting in Lagos on Thursday, saying it followed verified failures by operators to meet established minimum quality of service standards in several locations across the country. “It is not a refund from the regulator but a compliance obligation placed on service providers,” Maida stated.
The compensation covers service failures recorded between November 2025 and January 2026 across multiple network providers. Eligible subscribers will receive airtime credits alongside SMS notifications explaining the cause and value of the compensation.
Only subscribers who carried out at least one revenue-generating activity during the affected period qualify, and the credit amount will reflect both usage levels and the severity of the disruption. Compensation began rolling out on Friday, April 24, with MTN subscribers in Lagos already receiving notifications crediting their accounts.
A notable regulatory shift underpins the move. Unlike previous enforcement approaches, which assessed service quality at the state level, the NCC has now shifted to measuring performance at the local government area level, allowing the commission to better capture variations in network experience across the country.
Maida said telcos have committed to upgrading approximately 12,000 base stations in 2026, a dramatic increase from just over 300 upgrades completed in 2025. Around 2,800 have already been finished in the early part of the year, including new builds, spectrum additions, and conversions of older 3G sites to 4G and 5G technologies.
Nigeria’s mobile sector now serves an estimated 185 million active subscriptions as of February 2026, with MTN Nigeria leading at 95.3 million subscribers, followed by Airtel Nigeria at 63.02 million, Globacom with 22.6 million and T2 with 3.43 million.
The NCC also moved to address a separate dispute between telecom operators and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), which had led to the suspension of airtime and data credit services. Maida confirmed that both agencies are working together to resolve the licensing overlap and restore the popular emergency borrowing feature that millions of subscribers rely on.
