DAYO OMOOGUN argues the remarkable improvement in the sector in the past decades

As Nigerians bask in the euphoria of another Democracy Day celebration in the last 27 years, the season provides us an opportunity to pause and reflect in order to take stock of the gains and pains that have come about for Nigeria. Of course, there are several parameters with which we can measure the progress or retrogression or to establish whether, like a rocking chair, we have been on a charade of “motion without movement”.

The general tendency at times like this, for most Nigerians, is to bemoan, curse and rant over the many opportunities we have failed to harness towards turning around the fortune of our country for good. However that is not the whole picture and we can decide to be intentional in the choice of our perspectives – whether our glass is half full or half empty! Certainly there are some areas where there has been a huge difference, indeed transformation! One such sector is the telecommunications sector where we have transitioned from when the elites declared glibly that telephone is not for the poor, when possession of a phone was a status symbol to now that the average Bose, Emeka and Aliyu have active phone lines. In fact there has been a paradigm shift in the mentality of most Nigerians to the effect that the phone is a necessity, an essential life and business tool rather than a luxury.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the gains in the sector which have been primarily facilitated by the regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

As of today, official sources put the number of active phone lines in Nigeria at 185 million. For a country whose population is estimated to be in the region of 230 million and coming from less than half a million lines at the start of this revolution a little over 20 years ago, you be the judge whether or not there has been a positive transformation.

On the data side, the records show that Nigerians are using an average of 45,800 terabytes daily, based on March 2026 figures. One terrabyte is 1 million megabytes or 1000 gigabytes. Let that sink in.

It is important to note that this is one sector where the nation is not only recording growth but also development. Using various tools and policies, the Commission continues to ensure improvements both in quantity and quality.

The twin tools of Quality of Service (QoS) and Quality of Experience (QoE) assessments are being actively deployed to monitor performance of providers and satisfaction of consumers and this feedback mechanism positions the Commission to take appropriate steps to minimise the incidence of poor service.

The Commission has remained steadfast in protecting and empowering consumers. Recently, upon the insistence of the Commission, millions of consumers across the nation were compensated for poor service by mobile network operators when service quality dropped lower than an acceptable threshold. For many, it was a pleasant surprise, a total break with a systemic weakness that had become the norm, because many Nigerians have come to terms with being serially cheated, oppressed or defrauded with little or no chance of redress or recompense.

NCC also went further in its empowerment of consumers by directing Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and major Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to inform consumers ahead of time about any major network outages and planned service disruptions. In the event of such outages, they are to provide further information such as the cause of outages, affected locations, estimated time of restoration of service, etc. This and a few other policies show clearly that the Commission does not trifle with consumers. “Good regulation should be conducive to business and to customer protection”, says Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JP Morgan Chase & Co. This balancing skill of harmonising the varied interests of stakeholders has been the hallmark of the Nigerian Communications Commission’s regulatory strategy. In one deft move in 2025, the Commission attended to the demand by network providers and the cry for better services of consumers by approving a 50 percent tariff hike and getting the telcos to commit to expanding their infrastructure for better service delivery.

Following that intervention, over $1 billion was invested in network upgrades covering 2866 sites marking the end of a prolonged period of under-investments in the sector. This new investment trajectory has continued this year with operators pledging to activate 12,000 new sites out of which over 3,000 have been deployed already. Indeed there has been a significant reduction in dropped calls which the average consumer on the street can attest to while the problem of sluggish internet is also being gradually overcome. It is believed that when the remaining 9000 sites planned for 2026 are completed and deployed, there will be a significant upward shift in service quality.

The designation of telecommunications infrastructure as the Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII) by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a highly commendable step aimed at protecting investments and reducing service disruptions occasioned by the activities of vandals to the barest minimum.

The Commission is in the process of undertaking a comprehensive review of the National Telecommunications Policy of 2000 as directed by its supervising ministry – the Ministry of Communication, Innovation and Digital Economy which means an even better operating framework is about to be introduced.

Omoogun writes from Lagos