Stakeholders Seek Ways To Mitigate Telecom Fibre Cuts

The Association of Telecommunication Companies Of Nigeria (ATCON) has highlighted fibre cuts as a major stumbling block to the Nigerian telecom sector’s growth and affirmed its readiness to take strategic measures to tackle submarine fibre disruption in the country.

Speaking at the first edition of ATCON’s Critical Conversation Breakfast Meeting held in Lagos, President of ATCON, Tony Emoekpere stated that operators cannot continue to pay lip service to issues and challenges that have constituted stumbling block to the telecom sector growth.

The theme of the meeting was ‘The Direct And Indirect Cause And Impact Of Metro, Terrestrial And Submarine Fibre Disruptions (Cuts)–Short, Medium And Long Term Sustainable Solutions’.

Citing a recent submarine fibre cut that affected Nigeria and some other African countries, the ATCON President noted that incidences of Metro, Terrestrial and Submarine Fibre Disruptions have become a recurring decimal which must be addressed by relevant agencies at all levels of government. “Our members have had to pay a substantial amount of money to have all these disruptions fixed and this is impacting on their operational expenses which should not be if the perpetrators are brought to book.”

He reiterated that need for ducts to be built when new roads are being constructed. “There is a need to enforce and implement the provision in the Nigeria National Broadband Band Plan 2020-2025 which states that NCC should have a desk officer in each state of the Federation who is expected to be in charge of the fiber network in order to minimize Fiber cuts during roads construction,” he said.

Emoekpere however stressed the need for more collaboration between telecoms operators and government, with developers and road contractors to mitigate the challenges of fiber cuts.

Listing other measures required by the association members, he emphasised: “There must be compensation for fibre cable cuts. Training and awareness creation on the importance of fibre cable and the danger and negative impact of fibre cable cut, cannot be over-emphasised. The federal government should declare telecoms assets as Critical National Infrastructure (CNI).

In his position, CEO of NetAccess, Lekan Balogun, also noted that the major causes of fibre cable cut includes Government and Private contractors, man-made activities, planning and Design defects and Natural causes. He called for constant engagement between ATCON members, the government and developers.