For inexplicable reasons, most of last week—especially the days preceding the #EndBadGovernance in Nigeria protests—telecommunications services, already in a poor state, worsened significantly. Download speeds, including those on WhatsApp and Facebook, became nightmarish as internet speeds fell below the acceptable average of 27.62 megabits per second (Mbps), according to the World Wide Broadband Speed Report published in July 2024.
There were insinuations that the government might have ordered mobile network operators (MNOs) to reduce internet speeds on their networks to forestall and frustrate the use of the internet by potential protesters. Subscribers were affected by the alleged imposed restrictions across all networks, creating a backlash.
Internet speeds became even slower during the first three days of the protests, and there was no logical explanation for this coincidence except for a lacklustre TV appearance by Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy Minister Bosun Tijani. He said weakly, “There’s no instruction to tamper with (phone) networks.”
Nigerians on MTN, Airtel, GloMobile, 9mobile and other networks raised concerns on social media about unusually slow browsing speeds. These complaints led to suspicions that someone within the government had ordered the telecom companies to disrupt the protests digitally. However, these are mere suspicions as the government has denied such insinuations, describing them as misplaced.
While the government continues to deny these allegations, Nigerians were jolted a few days earlier when nearly 20 million subscribers had their lines disabled and disconnected from various networks. This was due to their inability to link their National Identification Number (NIN) to their Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) cards by the extended deadline of July 31, 2024.
Sensing possible negative reactions from affected subscribers who besieged operators’ facilities nationwide, where vandalism began, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) ordered telecommunications companies (telcos) to reconnect the affected subscribers immediately.
While relief came for these beleaguered subscribers, they woke up the next day to a general lull in data services, thus creating suspicion that the government had ordered operators to reduce internet speed as part of measures to frustrate the planned protests.
The unusually slow internet speeds experienced by subscribers in recent days may be traced to declining network services due to decaying infrastructure, lack of access to foreign direct investments, poor returns on investments, vandalism and losses sustained by operators due to the economic climate.
Although not much information appeared in the public space on the subject of SIM deactivation due to not being linked to the NIN, the NCC had in March 2024 provided mobile network operators (MNOs) an extension till July 31, 2024, to verify all Identity Numbers (NIN) submitted by subscribers with four or fewer SIMs, as well as bar those whose NINs failed verification with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).
The compulsory linkage began in 2020 when the government directed telecommunication companies to block calls from unregistered and unlinked lines. The policy was expected to help the authorities fight bandits and terrorists who kidnap and kill innocent people daily. Despite the extension of deadlines, many phone lines are yet to be linked.
While not linking network outages to this, it is important to state that causes of network outages include, but are not limited to, software and hardware issues, human error and electrical issues. Apart from these, network traffic congestion and physical damage issues like weather and design issues, cable cuts, among others, also play a role.
In reality, these companies are believed to be handicapped due to crippling inflation and currency volatility, which have defied all the policies implemented in the last year, thus creating a challenging macroeconomic environment for some of Nigeria’s biggest businesses. Only recently, 9mobile, which was terminally ill, got a fresh lease of life from L.H Telecommunications Limited when 95.5% of its shares were acquired. Subscribers connected to 9mobile had already been porting (migrating) to other manageable networks in large numbers due to the very poor services provided by the company. It had been debt-laden to a consortium of banks and several equipment vendors and tower owners who could no longer offer a lifeline to this company, which had transitioned from Etisalat to 9mobile as midwifed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the NCC to stave off its near-comatose profile.
With new shareholders, including Thomas Etuh, Mrs. Daisy Danjuma, Gloria Danjuma, former MTN Chief Executive Mike Ikpoki, others and the heavy capital injection into the operation, 9mobile may be on the rise again. In a statement, the company said that this acquisition followed the approvals of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) as required by law. The investment, which was approved by African Export-Import Bank (AFREXIM), the senior lender to 9mobile in May 2023, resulted in a change in control of 9mobile in favor of the new investor by the issuance of new shares amounting to 95.5 per cent to the new investor in consideration for the injection of fresh capital into the company.
Airtel Africa Plc announced a 9.5 per cent revenue growth in Q1 2024, from $1,257 million to $1,377 million, and reported a loss before tax of $221 million, while the loss after tax stood at $151 million. In its half-year report for 2024, Airtel’s revenue grew by 2.3 per cent, from $2.57 billion to $2.62 billion. Profit before tax stood at $12 million, while the loss after tax stood at $13 million.
MTN Nigeria, believed to be the country’s largest telecommunications firm and historically a guaranteed profit maker, reported a loss after tax of ₦519 billion for the first half of 2024. This is a massive jump from the ₦85 billion it lost in H1 2023. Most of those losses are linked to the company’s United States Dollar obligations, such as leases priced in dollars and financing costs. The devaluation of the naira and currency volatility in the half year ending June 2024 have significantly increased those costs.
“Overall, these headwinds put pressure on consumers and the cost of doing business in the country,” said CEO Karl Toriola in the results. “These include, for MTN Nigeria, additional forex losses, leading to pressure on our period-end negative capital position.” To mitigate these foreign exchange exposures, MTN reduced its outstanding letters of credit in dollars to $100 million by June 2024. It is also renegotiating lease agreements with IHS Towers.
While not holding briefs for network providers, these are their claims in the public space that could be interrogated and verified accordingly. Other operators, whose records are not readily available, are also plagued by similar problems as long as they operate within the same economy and are affected by the same indicators.
In all, the subscribers are no longer preeminent as they are left to the devices of the operators.
