Stop Nigerian Reps From Probing Poor Network Services – MTN, Glo, Airtel Beg Court

Telecommunications operators in Nigeria have approached the Federal High Court in Abuja to hunt an order stopping the House of Representatives from interfering with the Nigerian Communications Commission’s regulatory powers in investigating the standard of companies offered by operators within the business.

According to a press release on Friday, the operators, comprising the Registered Trustees of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, Airtel Networks Limited, Globacom Limited and Emerging Markets Telecommunication Services Limited, operators of 9mobile, filed the go well with on November 4.

The go well with, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2713/2026, names the House of Representatives, the Speaker, the Clerk of the House and the Inspector-General of Police as defendants.

The authorized motion challenges summonses issued on October 29 by the House’s advert hoc committee on high quality of service, directing the chief executives of the telecommunications firms to seem earlier than it and produce related paperwork.

The operators are asking the courtroom to find out whether or not the House has the constitutional authority to analyze issues referring to telecommunications service high quality, which they argue fall throughout the statutory regulatory obligations of the NCC.

They contend that Sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution limit the investigative powers of the National Assembly to particular functions, together with helping in making legal guidelines, exposing corruption, inefficiency or waste within the execution of legal guidelines and inspecting the administration of public funds appropriated by the legislature.

According to the plaintiffs, “the telecommunications firms are personal operators and don’t fall throughout the constitutional provisions governing the execution or administration of legal guidelines or the administration of public funds.

“They also rely on Sections 4, 70 and 105 of the Nigerian Communications Act, 2003, as well as the Nigerian Communications (Quality of Service) Regulations, 2024, which vest the NCC with responsibility for setting, monitoring and enforcing service quality standards in the telecommunications industry.”

The operators argue that permitting the House to proceed with the investigation may quantity to an interference with the fee’s statutory regulatory features.

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They additional contend that the proposed investigation may intrude with two pending courtroom instances referring to telecommunications service high quality.

The instances are HCS/261/2025, instituted by Fatokunboh Fagun and one other on behalf of themselves and MTN subscribers, and FHC/ABJ/CS/1886/2026, filed by Kaatruths Podcast Limited.

Among the reliefs sought, the plaintiffs are asking the courtroom to nullify the summonses issued by the House committee and restrain the lawmakers and different defendants from imposing them.

They additionally need an order stopping the House from utilizing arrest warrants or different enforcement measures to compel the businesses’ chief executives to seem or produce paperwork.

Additionally, the operators are in search of an injunction restraining the House from conducting investigations into telecommunications service high quality the place such investigations fall exterior the needs permitted beneath Section 88(2) of the Constitution or intrude with the NCC’s statutory regulatory obligations.

The go well with raises broader questions concerning the limits of legislative investigative powers and the extent of the NCC’s authority over telecommunications regulation in Nigeria.

The courtroom is anticipated to find out whether or not the House’s proposed investigation falls inside its constitutionally outlined powers.

NOP NIGERIA