MTN Nigeria has announced a scheduled network maintenance exercise that will temporarily disrupt service across parts of Adamawa, Borno, and Kano States on Saturday, October 25, 2025.
According to a company statement, the two-hour maintenance window—from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m.—will affect 101 network sites across 15 Local Government Areas in the three northern states.
Strengthening Fibre Infrastructure in Northern Nigeria
MTN explained that the maintenance is part of an ongoing plan to enhance network reliability and upgrade its fibre infrastructure in northern Nigeria.
The operation will involve a fibre cutover on a newly relocated cable segment between AFCOT and Bawo Village, which replaces damaged spans and eliminates multiple cable joints that have previously affected signal quality and network stability.
“This exercise is necessary to ensure long-term service reliability and better network performance for customers,” MTN said in a statement.
Areas to Be Affected
The company disclosed that services will be unavailable in the following areas during the maintenance period:
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Kano State: Nasarawa LGA
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Adamawa State: Girei, Song, Mubi North, Hong, Gombi, Fufore, Mubi South, Madagali, Michika, Maiha, Chibok, and Yola North
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Borno State: Askira/Uba and Shani
The temporary outage will affect 2G, 3G, 4G, and 10 enterprise connections, as the affected fibre route is currently linear and unprotected.
Second Phase of Earlier Restoration Effort
This intervention follows a network restoration exercise carried out in August 2025 along the same AFCOT–Bawo fibre route. MTN said this latest phase is a comprehensive upgrade aimed at resolving recurring fibre faults and ensuring consistent connectivity across the region.
While acknowledging the inconvenience customers may experience, MTN assured users that the outage will be brief and is intended to deliver more resilient network services.
“We regret any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate our customers’ understanding,” the company said.
Fibre Cuts Remain a Major Challenge
MTN’s announcement comes amid a rising trend of fibre cable cuts affecting telecom networks nationwide. In August, Nairametrics reported that residents in Kebbi, Sokoto, and Zamfara States experienced simultaneous network blackouts after MTN and 9mobile suffered concurrent fibre cuts.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has raised alarms over the growing rate of infrastructure damage, with operators like MTN, Airtel, and 9mobile reportedly recording an average of 1,100 fibre cuts weekly across the country.
To combat the issue, the NCC has introduced enforcement measures, public awareness campaigns, and collaboration with national security agencies to protect telecom assets.
Telecom infrastructure has also been designated as Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII) under the Cybersecurity Act, emphasizing the shared responsibility among operators, government agencies, and citizens to safeguard the nation’s communication backbone.
MTN reiterated its commitment to improving service quality and maintaining network resilience across Nigeria, assuring subscribers that the scheduled maintenance is a necessary step toward a faster, stronger, and more reliable network experience.
