Poor network: Reps eject ALTON officials from hearing, threaten sanctions

On Wednesday, the House of Representatives expelled representatives of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria from a hearing on poor network quality, warning of potential detention for further unauthorized appearances. The lawmakers also threatened sanctions against telecommunications company executives who fail to appear before the committee.

This confrontation took place at a meeting of the House Ad Hoc Committee on Telecommunications Service Quality in Abuja after the operators MTN, Globacom, Airtel, and T2 Mobile refused to attend the hearing to address complaints about poor service delivery. Representatives of the operators, claiming to represent ALTON, appeared before the committee but were rejected, as the invitation was sent directly to the individual companies.

The committee accused ALTON of disregarding an earlier directive and questioned their court order restraining the committee from proceeding with the investigation. Following the altercation, the committee's chairman, Olumide Osoba, ordered the ALTON representatives to leave the meeting and warned against further unauthorized appearances.