Excavation, Civil Works Linked to Fibre Cuts, Damaged Cables, NCC Warns

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has linked excavation and civil works to the wave of fibre cuts and damaged cables disrupting calls and data across the country.

The regulator said more than 5,000 fibre cuts were recorded in the first half of 2026 — an average of 27 cuts every day — largely from road construction, excavation and related civil works.

The Commission’s outage data shows fibre cuts now dominate major network failures. In the first quarter of the year, 361 of 577 major outages — 62.6 per cent — were due to fibre cuts. In May, the share rose to 74.7 per cent, with 183 of 245 major outages linked to damaged cables.

Fibre cables carry traffic between towns, towers and data centres, often buried along the same corridors as roads. When an excavator severs one, every site that depends on that route can lose service.

Repair is not instant. Engineers must first locate the exact point of damage along kilometres of buried cable, then splice — fuse — the broken ends back together with specialised equipment.

While that happens, subscribers face dropped calls, failed transactions and dead data sessions.

NCC Executive Vice Chairman, Dr Aminu Maida, said the problem is not deliberate sabotage, but poor coordination.

“Road contractors do not set out to damage cables, and operators do not set out to obstruct road works,” he said. “But a contractor breaks ground without knowing where the fibre is, or an operator does not learn that road works are about to begin until the cable is already cut.”

The NCC said operators also have obligations: to lay fibre to standard, respond promptly when notified of works, and relocate infrastructure within stipulated timelines.

To enforce accountability, the Commission is publishing outage data on its portal and verifying operators’ claims that they compensated more than 75 million subscribers for failing to meet service thresholds. It said over three million consumers have benefited from refunds on failed airtime and data purchases under a joint framework with the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The Ministries of Works and Communications have set up a standing committee to protect fibre cables, with sanctions for damage. Contractors, developers and local officials planning excavation are to consult operators and regulators before digging.

The NCC also urged ordinary Nigerians to report excavation close to cable routes or markers to their operator or directly to the Commission.

“Five thousand cuts in six months is not a footnote in a regulatory report,” the Commission said. “It is one of the reasons calls drop, data stalls and transactions fail.”