Telecom Crisis Looms in Nigeria as Workers Begins Strike

Nigeria's telecommunications sector faced a major threat as approximately 800 workers from the Private Telecommunications and Communications Senior Staff Association commenced a strike.

The union's demands include the reinstatement of sacked workers, recognition of the union, improved working conditions, and the remittance of membership dues. This industrial action has the potential to severely disrupt telecom services across the country.

The implications of the strike are expected to be massive. Union representatives have instructed all members not to respond to any service outages reported by their employers.

Given that service outages occur daily, the lack of response from engineers could lead to widespread disruptions affecting subscribers in various regions. As one union member stated, "The fact remains that there are outages every day, and if our engineers do not respond to those outages, subscribers in those areas will be affected."

This strike comes at a time when the Nigerian telecom industry is already grappling with several challenges. High operational costs, primarily due to energy expenses and foreign exchange losses, have been a significant burden on telecom operators.

Additionally, the sector faces issues such as multiple regulations, government interference, illegal taxation, cybercrime, and infrastructure security concerns.

Despite these challenges, the Nigerian telecom market has shown resilience and growth. In 2023, the total telecom and pay-TV service revenue was $8.9 billion, with projections indicating an increase to $9.09 billion in 2024 and an expected growth to $11.43 billion by 2029, at a CAGR of 4.70%. The sector's growth is driven by increasing urban population, rising adoption of smartphones, and the expansion of 3G, 4G, and 5G services.