By Grace Chigbu
MTN Nigeria subscribers encountered a significant network outage on Wednesday, February 28, resulting from multiple fibre cuts. This disruption led to speculation about the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) enforcing a deadline for subscribers. In response, MTN has issued apologies and explanations while engineers work to restore services.
According to data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), MTN boasted 87,038,768 subscribers as of December 2023, representing a substantial portion of the nation’s telecommunications users. During the outage, which persisted for hours, these subscribers experienced disruptions in both voice and data services.
In a post on its X account (formerly Twitter), MTN acknowledged the outage, attributing it to “multiple fibre cuts.” The telecom giant expressed regret for any inconvenience caused and assured subscribers that efforts were underway to resolve the issue. An accompanying image provided further details, explaining that the outage impacted both voice and data services, with engineers diligently working to restore connectivity gradually.
Meanwhile, the NCC has authorized telecommunication companies to block subscribers who have failed to link their phone numbers to their National Identification Numbers (NIN). MTN, alongside Airtel, Glo, 9mobile, and others, commenced implementation on February 28, 2024. Subscribers with unlinked SIM cards will be unable to make or receive calls and send text messages to other numbers.
