MTN Nigeria has alerted customers in five states of possible service disruptions after detecting network challenges across parts of Oyo, Lagos, Rivers, the Federal Capital Territory, and Delta states. The company issued a network outage alert on Thursday, October 8, 2026, stating that its technical teams are already working to resolve the issue.
Network Challenges and Customer Impact
In a statement, MTN said: "We're experiencing network challenges in some parts of Oyo, Lagos, Rivers, FCT and Delta States and our services may be temporarily unavailable as a result. Our engineers are working to restore services as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience and understanding."
The company did not specify the cause of the disruption or provide a timeline for full service restoration. Customers in the affected areas may face interruptions to voice calls, mobile internet, and other services during the period.
Ongoing Airtime Compensation Programme
This outage comes as MTN continues a separate exercise to compensate subscribers for poor service recorded earlier in the year. The company began crediting eligible customers on Sunday, October 4, 2026, following directives from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), as reported by Punch.
The compensation covers service failures recorded between February and April 2026, with affected subscribers receiving airtime credits usable for calls, SMS, and data without an expiry date. Subscribers have reported receiving varying amounts, with screenshots online showing credits ranging from N20 to N1,436. This variation prompted questions about how the figures were calculated.
MTN explained that the amounts reflected each customer's spending pattern and were tied to Local Government Areas where qualifying service failures occurred, rather than a flat payment applied to all subscribers.
Clarification on Data Depletion Complaints
One subscriber who received N20 also raised a separate complaint about data disappearing without use. MTN responded by clarifying that the credit was part of its quality-of-service compensation programme and was not a response to any data depletion complaint. The company said: "The SMS notification relates to a Quality of Service compensation programme for service disruptions recorded between February and April 2026."
Second Compensation Round Under NCC Policy
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that MTN's second compensation exercise was under the NCC's quality-of-service framework. The first covered disruptions recorded between November 2025 and January 2026 and was carried out in May 2026.
Airtel has also begun compensating eligible customers for the February-to-April period. It remains unclear when Globacom and T2mobile, formerly 9mobile, will launch a similar exercise. The ongoing compensation and network outage highlight the telecom operator's efforts to address service quality issues while managing current network challenges.
