The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has identified network capacity issues in high-density urban areas as the primary cause of the persistent poor quality of telecom services in cities like Lagos and Abuja.
This comes from a joint research study conducted by the NCC and Ookla, a global broadband intelligence company. The research specifically highlighted that the high concentration of active internet users in cities leads to common problems such as dropped video calls, streaming buffering, failed mobile payments, and slow download speeds.
The Commission clarified that while overall national network capacity for data is sufficient, significant capacity constraints are localized to urban zones across all major operators.
The impact on rural areas is minimal, confirming the issue is specific to high-density populations.
To address this, the NCC is urging telecom operators to make more targeted investments.
The recommended strategy is a two-pronged approach:
1. The aggressive deployment of 5G technology.
2. Optimizing the capacity of existing 4G networks to improve performance for all users.
The NCC emphasized that “localised congestion leads directly to peak-hour performance degradation,” and that targeted infrastructure investment in these busy urban zones is critical to restoring consistent service quality.
Dele Fashomi, seasoned journalist and communication teacher, is a holder of Master of Arts degree in Communication and Language Arts from the University of Ibadan in 1992/93.
Earlier, he had bagged a Bachelor degree from the same university in 1984, after which he proceeded to the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Lagos, in 1990, for a postgraduate diploma in Journalism.
He had done many courses in communication, including the EU-BBC Editing Course in 2002.
Mr. Fashomi combines effectively the practice, research and teaching of communication. And to date, he has published two academic works in communication: Issues in Communication Technology and Policy (2010) and Economic and Social Issues in Advertising and PR (2013).
He had his first break in the Nigerian media in Concord Newspapers in 1990 and today, he has over two and half decades experience earned in several newspapers.
He has been part of many start-ups, such as The Republic (1987), The Comet (1999), The Anchor 2001 – 2002; Sun Newspapers (2003); Westerner newsmagazine (2005 – 2010) as Editor; National Life (2011) as Sunday Editor, and Newswatch Newspapers (2012- 2016) as Daily Editor.
Dele Fashomi is now the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of Newstide247.com newspaper online, which he started in July 2015. He is also into biography writing, with many books in his trail, some of which he wrote alone and one he co- authored with his mentor, Mr Dare Babarinsa, entitled: Olabiyi Durojaiye – DARE TO BE DiFFERENT. He also guided and collaborated with Pa Olatunji Odusanya in writing his autobiography – AGAINST ALL ODDS. There are many other books in the works under his pen.
