“We Have network problem.” This is the baffling but standard catchphrase Nigerians use to manage the unacceptably poor quality of mobile telephony in the country. The current quality of mobile phone services in Nigeria is appalling and inexcusable. Everyone yells, complains, and threatens to discontinue subscription to their mobile phone service provider. That is all talk and no action. No one takes action to compel mobile phone operators to improve on existing services. Everyone prefers to brood and absorb the insults from their telephone service provider. That is the hallmark of spineless telephone consumers.
If you want to understand the scale of problems mobile phone consumers face in Nigeria, you have to watch the frustration plastered on people’s faces as they make phone calls. When people speak on mobile phones, they shout, curse, swear, and throw tantrums. You might wonder whether mobile phone consumers in Nigeria are deranged, psychologically disturbed, or suffering from some kind of mental health problem. It may be none of these. Screaming, using swear words and bad language, and pacing the floor are unusual behaviours, no doubt, but they are not a reflection of the psychological state of the person making a phone call. Those actions symbolise irritation and disappointment attributable to poor mobile phone services.
Flawed mobile phone services come in various forms. One of them is generally referred to as crossed phone line. This shows up when you dial a number and you hear another person’s voice or other people’s voices as they communicate at the same time. This could drive anyone crazy, particularly if the person is facing an emergency situation and wants to reach someone quickly. In that scenario, what the person does not want is the call going to another telephone line.
Another confirmation that you are having difficulties with your mobile phone is when you hear a faded dial tone or busy tone in the background of your discussion. Yet another experience is when you make a call and someone answers in a language that is incomprehensible to you. Perhaps the most exasperating and more common occurrence is when you make a call but receive an automated message telling you the number you called is unavailable. Could it be the person you called switched off their phone? Could it be they don’t have enough power in their mobile phone? Could it be that you dialled a wrong number? All kinds of thoughts run through your mind.
In the second decade of the 21st Century, in an era in which countries that are less economically and technologically endowed than Nigeria are progressing rapidly, it is amazing that telecommunications consumers in Nigeria are still grappling with dreadful and miserable services provided by mobile phone operators. When would mobile phone operators invest the huge profits they make in the Nigerian market in upgrading the quality of service to consumers? Do consumers really need to revolt before the telecommunications industry regulator – the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) — is compelled to take its responsibilities much more seriously?
It is more than 10 years since I called for the scrapping of mobile phone operators that fail to provide basic services to consumers in Nigeria. The call is particularly urgent now because quality has declined while mobile phone operators continue to make huge profits in the Nigerian market.
There are institutions and agencies that are obligated by law to cut the tail of mobile phone operators whose services are not up to scratch. There is the National Assembly and there is also the NCC, the industry watchdog. Unfortunately, neither of these has lived up to the expectations of citizens.
The situation is bewildering. It is not that there are no laws to check the activities of errant mobile phone operators in the country. There is legislation intended to improve telecommunications services. But enforcement of legislation remains highly problematic. It is said that what is not worth doing well is not worth doing at all. There is no point in having laws that are hardly enforced. It is worthless having inefficient agencies and institutions that are negligent of their duty to oversee the activities of telecommunications operators.
One of the functions of the NCC is the “protection and promotion of the interests of consumers against unfair practices, including but not limited to matters relating to tariffs and charges for and the availability and quality of communications services, equipment and facilities” (https://www.ncc.gov.ng/about-ncc/mandate#functions-of-the-ncc). I am not persuaded that the NCC has performed this role satisfactorily in the interest of telephone consumers in Nigeria. Pitiable mobile phone services serve as irrefutable evidence that the industry regulator has relinquished its supervisory role. The NCC engages in sporadic imposition of fines on mobile phone operators that infringe the laws but the extent to which the fines are enforced remains unclear. With the NCC, it is all noise, threats, and little action.
Let me reinforce this point. Mobile telephony in Nigeria is a disgrace. And there is no indication that the situation would improve soon. Making a telephone call within the country or calling from outside the country in the past few months has been mostly agonising. This is worrying. The rest of the world has recorded significant achievements in the telecommunications industry. While many countries are harnessing new technologies to improve the socio-economic conditions of their citizens, Nigerian officials continue to behave as if we don’t need efficient telecommunications services. This is not surprising. A country that has known no shame in the way it approaches national development matters over the past 59 years since attainment of independence has no reason to care about its image in the international community.
There are few countries in the world where citizens still receive the kind of dismal mobile phone services as we do in Nigeria. The government, the industry regulator, and the National Assembly must commit to get mobile phone services operating efficiently in the country. Research shows efficient mobile telephony boosts national development. It is true the deregulation of telecommunications opened the market to competition from private operators but privatisation has not proved to be the magical wand to solve the problems in the industry. A similar situation exists in the energy sector that has also been privatised. Experience shows that privatisation has not eliminated the volatility in the sector. This makes the problems in the telecommunications industry similar to problems in the energy sector.
People often wonder why Nigerians continue to tolerate poor telephone services even though the telephone, as an instrument of effective communication, healthcare management, and business success, is very important. We must hold the government, the National Assembly, and the industry regulator blameworthy.
The telephone plays diverse roles in every society. It is used to save lives in hospitals and elsewhere. It is used to transact business, to prevent major crimes, including terrorist activities, and to reduce costs of long distance travel.
In this digital era, the uptake of mobile phones by citizens is tied inexorably to social and economic development of every country. There is no shorter route to national development.