The chief executives of MTN, Airtel, Globacom and other operators now have until Wednesday, November 4, 2026, to appear in person before the House of Representatives committee investigating poor network service, and lawmakers have again threatened arrest warrants for any who stay away. The ad hoc committee, chaired by Rep. Olumide Osoba, moved the date after it refused to let the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) speak on the operators’ behalf at its sitting in Abuja last week.
The bosses were first due on October 28, a deadline set when the House summoned them over poor network on October 21. Instead, the operators sent ALTON’s chairman, Gbenga Adebayo, to represent them, and the committee turned that down and insisted that each company answer for its own service. For subscribers, Wednesday is the first time the people who run the networks may have to explain dropped calls, slow data and failed transactions in a public session.
Lawmakers say each licence comes with its own duty to answer
Rep. Sunday Umeha, who moved the motion to reject ALTON’s representation, argued that the operators are “individually licensed by the Nigerian Government”, so belonging to an industry association can’t stand in for appearing themselves. He also faulted a letter attributed to ALTON that questioned the committee’s power to compel the operators to testify, saying the companies “see their appearance as a privilege to this committee and not as a statutory obligation”. The committee adopted his motion by voice vote.
Umeha pointed to Section 88 of the 1999 Constitution, which gives each chamber of the National Assembly the power to investigate matters within its legislative competence. A Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) representative at the sitting confirmed that the commission had sent invitations to each chief executive individually, so the summons for Wednesday went to the operators directly as well as through the House.
Over 400,000 complaints sit behind this hearing
NCC figures for the first half of 2026 put consumer complaints against the four major mobile operators at 413,587, with Airtel at 228,992, MTN at 124,405, Glo at 56,810 and T2 at 3,885. The commission reported that 406,938 of those complaints were resolved, and earlier in October it said operators had compensated about 75 million subscribers for poor service this year and carried out more than 6,500 network interventions.
Those payouts come under the NCC’s Consumer Compensation Framework, which credits affected subscribers with airtime when an operator misses quality targets, and as our breakdown of MTN’s compensation credits showed, many lines received small amounts. Rep. Akin Rotimi Jr. raised a different worry at the sitting, warning that connectivity gaps “could leave residents and travellers unable to contact security agencies”.
Nothing changes on your line Wednesday, but your records still count
A hearing won’t fix a weak signal on its own, and the committee hasn’t said what it will recommend once it has heard from the operators. What Wednesday can do is put each company’s explanations and plans on the public record, where lawmakers and the NCC can hold them to it.
If your network keeps failing, log the dates and places where calls drop or data stalls, raise a complaint with your operator so there’s a ticket number, and escalate to the regulator with that evidence through our guide on how to complain to the NCC. Complaints filed that way are counted in the NCC’s quarterly figures, which is how the problems on your street end up in numbers like the ones above.
