Network Disruption Grips Nigeria Again Despite MTN Group’s Reassurances

Nigerians are grappling with widespread call and data service disruptions, casting doubts on recent claims by Bayobab Group, an affiliate of the telecommunications behemoth, MTN Group, regarding the restoration of its operational capabilities.

Earlier this week, MTN announced that it had overcome the setbacks of a significant incident, reportedly restoring over 3 Terabits per second (Tbps) of its network capacity.

This statement followed a period of severe connectivity issues triggered by damages to the undersea cable, which provides broadband Internet connectivity not only to Nigeria but also to other countries in the West African sub-region.

The disruption began after the West African Cable System and the African Coast to Europe, two major undersea cables on the West Coast route from Europe, suffered faults.

The situation worsened as other key providers like SAT3 and MainOne also reported outages due to the cable cut, severely affecting banks, financial institutions, telecom companies, and various businesses, forcing them to downscale operations dramatically.

Despite MTN’s assertions of network restoration, the reality on the ground tells a different story.

Numerous customers across Nigeria have reported persistent difficulties in accessing stable call and data services since Wednesday.

The ongoing network challenges have forced citizens to switch between different service providers in a bid to execute basic transactions and maintain connectivity on their devices.