Why There Is Poor Service Delivery In Nigeria —Airtel, Etisalat, Glo, MTN

THE four major telecommunications companies in Nigeria – Airtel, Etisalat, Globacom and MTN – have stated reasons for their inability to meet quality of service standards, promising to make investments that will immensely improve service quality.

This was contained in a joint statement signed by the networks, which was made available to the Nigerian Tribune, on the decision by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to sanction them for failure to meet quality service standards.

According to the release, the main factor affecting quality of service was the absence of a reliable source of power, as every site was powered by two diesel generators 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Another factor, according to the release, was “the frequent cuts of fibre networks which link all the sites.”

The recent trend towards the indiscriminate closure of sites by the government, in pursuit of multiple taxation of telecommunications infrastructure, was also said to be another setback to quality service delivery.

The telecoms companies also listed security as “a prevalent threat to our operating environment,” adding that their employees had been, many tImes, physically assaulted and killed.

“We are all as equally frustrated and concerned about the failures to meet customer expectations and needs, with respect to the quality of service. Nigeria deserves and needs first class telecommunications networks.

“We, thus, apologize unreservedly to you, our customers, for those occasions when you have been disappointed or inconvenienced by a lapse or failure to deliver the requisite level of quality of service,” the statement read.

The companies said fines would not bring about the desired service improvements, while appealing to the NCC, the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency, the Minister of Communication Technology, the National Assembly and the office of the National Security Adviser to put in place, an environment conducive for substantial investments.