Africa’s largest mobile network, MTN, earlier notified its subscribers of a need to implement a “network freeze,” which is scheduled to begin today, February 24, 2023.
With less than 48 hours to the highly anticipated presidential elections, many Nigerians have entered panic mode following the notice from MTN. This news has also led to some misinformation in the country seeing that many have misinterpreted this as an “outage or shutdown”.
The telecom giant has, however, assured the public that a ‘Network Freeze’ doesn’t mean a ‘shut down in network service’, hence no need for a pandemonium.
According to MTN, “We don’t implement changes on their network during critical times to minimise the chances of an outage. Network Freeze, as explained, is “a common practise in telecom” that involves “keeping the network as is.”
In reaction to this, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), earlier today, confirmed that “there will be no telecommunications shutdown for the elections.” It has told Nigerians that network services will not be shut down, despite rumors that this might happen because of the elections.
NCC is the independent regulatory body for the telecommunications industry in Nigeria. Its job is to make it possible for operators in the industry to compete, to make sure everyone has access to affordable, high-quality telecommunications services, and to protect consumer rights.
Per NCC,
“The attention of the Nigerian Communications Commission has been drawn to fraudulent and misleading information circulating in some social media platforms, insinuating there is a planned shutdown of all telecom networks and relevant ICT units, including online transfer facilities of the banks, with effect from today, February 23, 2023.”
“The Nigerian public, consumers of telecommunications services, and all bank customers are advised to ignore these or similar messages that insinuate deliberate network shutdown or disruption of services in the Nigerian telecom network.”
When should MTN users expect the network freeze?
The first phase of the network freeze will start on the 24th of February 2023 and end on March 1, 2023, while the second phase will start on March 10 and end on March 15.
A network freeze is not a network shutdown and only involves the suspension of any core maintenance or updates that would cause a network outage. During a network freeze, only emergency changes will be allowed on the network during this period. This is an assurance that the network is expected to be stable and available during this period.
Speaking about misinformation and the upcoming elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), recently launched an AI chatbot to educate Nigerian citizens on the electoral process. To do their civic duties well, people who want to vote need to understand how the voting process works. INEC made the virtual assistant available so that you can get all election day training materials on your phone in real time.
