Telecommunication network service providers in Nigeria are urging the Federal Government to wade in and find lasting solution to issues of fibre cuts, theft, network congestion, community access denial and other issues which is resulting to very poor voice and data service quality for subscribers and subsequently causing huge revenue losses to operators.
Airtel said that over 1,022 fibre cuts have occurred, disrupting its network just between July 2019 and February 2020, and although they have worked with the Nigerian Civil Defence to arrest vandals, there hasn’t been any successful prosecution to deter criminals.
Speaking during a media round table held at the Airtel Nigeria head office in Lagos, Emeka Oparah, the director of corporate communications and CSR, Airtel Nigeria said “there are so many issues that we encounter, and it is unreasonable to think that we just sit down and do nothing about it because we are the ones that feel the hurt, as we are losing money by the minute. There was a time that one of our base stations was submerged in flood and although it wasn’t our fault, we had to quickly respond to that because customers would not want to hear stories.”
Oparah said declaration of telecoms infrastructure as critical national infrastructure by the federal government will help safeguard telecoms infrastructure, create better user experience and reduce revenue losses to telcos.
According to him, 405 cases of the fibre cuts were as a result of road rehabilitation activities, and 617 cases were due to vandalism. He urged the federal and state governments to hasten the approval process for fibre development, as well as quicken the environmental Impact Analysis (EIA) approval process, saying that these actions would help solve the problem of network congestion and network failure.
Also speaking, Adedoyin Adeola, vice president, network operations, Airtel Nigeria said; “Telecoms operators are plagued with so many problems ranging from security issues to illegal signal boosters. While a network provider is working hard to restore a fibre cut due to vandals or activities of road construction workers, it also has to deal with illegal signal boosters which interfere with network quality and operated by unlicensed operators.”
“Operators also have to wait endlessly for Right of Way approvals, EIA approvals and other approvals. Installations by telcos are also a huge target for thieves who cart away with inverter batteries, generators diesel, in addition to other daily and long standing problems of multiple taxation and community issues,” Adeola said.
On what the telecommunications regulator is doing to solve these issues, Wakil Bako, director, technical standards and network integrity, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), told BusinessDay that there are certainly issues of dropped calls and poor network quality across the country but the regulator is taking necessary steps to resolve those issues as soon as possible.
“Apart from the issues of theft and vandalism, we also have a lot of bad handsets and mobile devices smuggled into the country when NCC has not type approved them. The NCC is currently working with the National Assembly, the ministry of works, ministry of environment, security agencies and other ministries to ensure that there is a passage of the critical national infrastructure bill, so that those who are vandalising and stealing infrastructures are criminalised and the issue of road construction and cuts of fibre cables are minimalized,” Bako told BusinessDay in an interview.
Despite harsh operating environment, telcos in Nigeria say they are taking steps to improve surveillance across telecoms fibre routes. They say that they are proactively engaging with construction companies and communities and are enlisting the support of security agencies to access sites/telecoms infrastructure in flash points or troubled areas.
Jumoke Akiyode-Lawanson
