Nigeria seems to have opened the way for improved telecom services after the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) fined Airtel, MTN, Glo Mobile and Etisalat a total of US$7.4 million in the last two months for poor quality of service.

All four operators issued a joined statement last week in which they claimed they were committed to providing high quality of service to their customers by continuing to invest in and build networks. The operators said however, that fines will not bring about the desired improvements overnight or offer a lasting solution but will merely deplete essential resources that would otherwise be deployed for network rollout.

"We are concerned that the regime of sanctions could create an atmosphere of anxiety and regulatory uncertainty which is unattractive to investment," said the operators in a joint statement.

The operators said they were equally frustrated and concerned about the failure to meet customer expectations and needs. They blamed the absence of a reliable power supply as one of the causes of the failure to meet quality of service levels. Every single site, they said, is powered throughout the year by two diesel generators and requires a regular supply of diesel as well as security protection.

Poor service provision by operators is generally considered to be a result of lack of investment in network upgrades and has become a source of concern in many African countries where customers are losing money on uncompleted calls.