Nigeria’s Telecoms Sector Suffers 35 Network Disruptions In May
By Sulaimon Salau
Nigeria’s telecommunications sector has suffered over 35 network disruptions in May 2025 owing to fibre cuts, power outages, vandalism, and infrastructure theft among others.
Data obtained from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) major outage reporting portal, revealed that the leading operators such as MTN, Airtel, Glo and 9Mobile experienced service interruptions that affected millions of users across multiple states.
Among the most significant events are the incidents that happened on May 21 where Glo services were disrupted for over 8 hours in some states due to equipment theft. These include Benue, Abuja, Nassarawa, Kaduna, Kano etc.
Also, MTN was affected by widespread fibre cuts and power outages, including key regions in Cross River, Lagos, Benue, and Rivers.
9Mobile faced multiple prolonged outages, notably a 15-day power disruption from April 29 to May 14 across parts of Kebbi and Sokoto.
Airtel also faced multiple outages due to fiber cut, power failure among others in Lagos, Ogun, Rivers, Cross River and Oyo State among others.
The report revealed that most of the cases have been resolved.
Data obtained by Slye News revealed that the outages mostly affect data operations, while voice calls, SMS, and USSD were also impacted.
NCC Executive Vice Chairman Aminu Maida had earlier revealed that the sector recorded over 50,000 fibre cuts in 2024 alone, with approximately 30,000 attributed to road construction by federal and state agencies.
However, the Federal Ministry of Works (FMoW) and the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy (FMoCIDE) have established a Joint Standing Committee on the Protection of Fiber Optic Cables to address the persistent issue of fiber optic cuts and damages caused by road construction and rehabilitation activities.
These disruptions have had a significant negative impact on telecommunications services across Nigeria.
