In furtherance of its sustained regulatory drive to ensure transparency and accountability in the nation’s telecoms industry, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has unveiled a consumer-centric agenda for 2026 with the assurance of prioritizing service excellence, billing transparency, and infrastructure resilience in its regulatory drive in the year.
Specifically, this year one of the key components of commission’s plan is to ensure that subscribers enjoy improvements in their telecoms service experiences as they relate to voice and data quality.
The Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (EVC/CEO) of the NCC, Aminu Maida, gave this assurance in his 2026 New Year message to consumers, industry operators, partners and other stakeholders in the nation’s rapidly evolving digital economy.
In the New Year message with the theme “2026: Delivering Better Quality of Experience to the Nigerian Consumer”, the EVC reaffirmed the commission’s commitment to ensuring services delivery to telecom consumers fairly, competitively, and sustainably.
- Advertisement -
Maida maintained that reliable and affordable services remained critical to sustaining trust in the sector, just as sustainable investment by operators is essential for growth.
He clarified: “It is clear that if consumers do not experience reliable and affordable service, the sector loses trust, and if operators cannot invest sustainably, the sector cannot grow. When this balance is right, trust is built, investment flows, innovation thrives, and more Nigerians can participate meaningfully in the digital economy.”
Noting that the commission’s vision aligns with the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Agenda and President Bola Tinubu’s ambition to build a $1 trillion digital economy by 2030, the industry regulator described a reliable, inclusive, and high-quality communications sector as a critical enabler of productivity, innovation, job creation, and national competitiveness.
According to him, in demonstration of the commission’s commitment to its regulatory mandate, it will continue to play its role in ensuring that connectivity translates into meaningful and safe digital participation for Nigerians.
The EVC assured: “As connectivity becomes more central to everyday life, our responsibility goes beyond access alone. Nigerians must be able to use the internet with confidence.”
He explained that to further protect telecoms subscribers in the country from cyber-attacks, particularly fraud, impersonation, cyberbullying, and harmful content, the NCC would be strengthening regulatory instruments such as the Internet Code of Practice to ensure that as networks expand, users are better protected and service providers act responsibly.
Expatiating on the 2026 agenda, Maida said: “Our shared ambition is simple: better services that people can feel. When this balance is right, between consumer protection and operator sustainability, trust is built, and more Nigerians can participate meaningfully in the digital economy.”
Specifically, he promised that to achieve this, the NCC plans to Deepen Quality of Service (QoS) Monitoring by implementing more rigorous oversight to identify and address network bottlenecks; Target High-Traffic “Black Spots” by initiating and implementing practical measures to improve network availability in busy urban centers and persistent areas of poor coverage; and Minimize Service Disruptions by collaborating with the mobile network operators (MNOs) to reduce avoidable service outages and ensure faster restoration when incidents occur.
In addition, the Maida-led telecom regulatory commission also plans to Ending the “Hidden Fee” Era by vigorously pursuing Tariff and Billing Transparency by cracking down on complex and confusing billing systems.
As expected, the NCC has mandated the MNOs to simplify their service offerings with a view to ensuring telecoms subscribers in the country get real full value for their money.
This is even as the MNOs are not expected to treat customer complaints with levity, but prioritize it and ensure that customers’ complaints are handled timely in order to ensure fairness and guarantee value for their money.
