Customers of MTN, Nigeria’s largest telecommunications provider, could soon face service disruptions in the West African country, according to a statement seen by some journalists and outlets. MTN’s services could be disrupted as Nigeria’s growing insecurity challenges, Reuters and others reported, citing a warning from customer service providers. Throughout this year, Nigerians have had to fight abductions, clashes between peasants and herdsmen, mass abductions of students and armed robberies.
MTN reportedly said in the message, “Unfortunately, we must be aware that with the growing insecurity in various parts of Nigeria, the delivery of services to your organization may be affected in the coming days. This means that in some cases, our technical support team may not be able to visit your site and achieve optimal turnaround time as soon as possible in error management.” MTN did not immediately respond to a request for comment. When MTN Nigeria released its financial report for Q12021, it showed strong growth, with data revenue growing 43% year-on-year to N106 billion ($257 million), accounting for 28% of total revenue.
Active data subscribers jumped 21% year on year to increase data revenue to 32.5 million and year-over-year smartphone penetration increased by 27% to 36.3 million. These numbers reflect the dominance of MTN in Nigeria. According to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), telecom operators are responsible for 43% of Nigeria’s Internet subscribers and 38% of the country’s subscribers. Like most network providers in the country, MTN’s services have been the story of two experiences: Good and Subper. However, Nigerians who spoke to TechCrunch have given eyewitness testimony over the past few weeks following fears of a government decision to ban Twitter and then the Internet.
Reports from local media seem to cite Reuters as a different reason: the union’s nationwide strike against all network providers. The PTECSSN, a private telecommunications and communications senior staff association union comprising the country’s senior telecom workers, has announced that it will launch a three-day industrial strike from Wednesday in protest of workers’ arbitrary sacks and clashes.” PTECSSN in a statement blamed Nigerian telecom companies for various reasons. First, the violation of the freedom of association and the right of workers to organize; Torture of union members; And poor and discriminatory wages.
