The fact that Nigeria‘s telecommunications industry is a lifeblood of the nation, providing connectivity and data across the country, cannot be overemphasized.
This is largely made possible as a result of fiber optic cables, which are vital to connectivity because they bring network capacity closer to subscribers.
As of 2023, Nigeria had deployed 78,676 kilometers of fiber optic cable, with most concentrated in urban areas like Lagos (7,864.60km), Edo (4,892.71km), FCT (4,472.03km), Ogun (4,189.18km), and Niger (3,681.66km), among others.
However, fiber optic cable cuts pose a persistent threat to this vital infrastructure. These seemingly insignificant interruptions have a snowball effect that impedes the country‘s digital advancement, frustrates users, and costs businesses money.
For instance, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) reported over 50,000 cases of infrastructure damage in the past five years with fiber cuts contributing to over 30 percent of network outage incidents. Telecom companies face an average of 1,600 cuts per month, according to a report highlighting the relentless nature of the problem.
These cuts are difficult to fix, a Bloomberg report averred, even as it disclosed that damaged cables cost telcos N27 billion ($23 million) in repairs and lost revenues in 2023, with MTN Nigeria and Airtel Africa Plc shouldering most of the costs. MTN suffered over 6,000 cuts last year alone, even as it had to relocate 2,500 kilometers of vulnerable cables at a cost exceeding N11 billion enough to build new lines in underserved areas.
These cuts come from various sources, the managing director/chief executive officer of NetAccess Limited, Lekan Balogun, disclosed at the first edition of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria, ATCON’s Critical Conversation Breakfast Meeting held in Lagos with the theme: ‘the Direct And Indirect Cause And Impact Of Metro, Terrestrial, And Submarine Fibre Disruptions (Cuts)–Short, Medium And Long Term Sustainable Solutions’.
“Accidental damage during construction by oblivious excavators is a major culprit. Lack of proper planning and communication between construction firms and telecom operators leads to these incidents. Also, deliberate vandalism and cable theft play a role,” he added.
Lagos-Calabar coastal road construction is a major threat
Barely a few days after MainOne announced that it has concluded repairs to its submarine cable following an outage that occurred on Thursday, March 14, 2024, telecom operators are worried that Nigeria may experience another internet disruption when the Lagos-Calabar coastal road construction begins.
According to them, several submarine cables like SAT-3, MainOne, Glo 1, WACS, and ACE, which came from Europe, covering thousands of kilometers, with landing stations in Lagos, are likely to be damaged if they are not re-routed before the commencement of construction work on the proposed Lagos-Calabar coastal road.
Operators alerted the public to the possibility of major damage to the submarine cables and nationwide disruption of internet service if the relocation of the cables was not completed before the start of the road work.
Executive secretary of ATCON, Mr. Ajibola Olude, said, “The association represents many telecoms companies that are likely to be affected when the execution of the highway starts if proper relocation exercise is not carried out. ATCON therefore requests that the association be carried along as the project commences and ATCON is ready to work closely with the Federal Ministry of Works to ensure that all telecoms facilities along the earmarked route are carefully relocated.”
Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo, also expressed worry about the likely impact of the planned construction of the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway on telecoms facilities, especially submarine cables.
According to Adebayo, telecom operators had earlier received approval on Right of Way (RoW) from the government before routing the submarine cables along that axis after they landed at the shores of the country; the federal government ought to have followed the distance approved for RoW for telecoms facilities when mapping out Lagos-Calabar coastal high way, to avoid encroaching on the corridors of existing telecoms facilities.
“Addressing the Afiber optic cut problem is not just about fixing cables; it‘s about building a more connected future for Nigeria. A robust and reliable telecom infrastructure is essential for economic growth and social development. By prioritizing the protection of these vital connections, Nigeria can ensure a more stable, efficient, and inclusive digital landscape for all”, Adebayo said.
He therefore called on the federal government to begin consultations with telecom operators to have meaningful discussions on the relocation of the submarine cables and the cost implications for the relocation.
ATCON president, Tony Emoekpere, identified that major road construction works contribute almost 80 percent to potential fiber cuts meaning that there is a need for engagement between the construction companies and the regulator, federal and state ministries to have preemptive steps taken while these road constructions are being undertaken. “Why don’t we, for example, make it a standard whereby building of ducts is factored into the cost of deploying these roads rather than people reinstalling them?” he stated.
Emoekpere therefore suggested underground cable ducts, to prevent future cable cuts, adding that burying fiber optic cables in underground ducts offers superior protection from accidental damage during construction and vandalism. This approach, according to him has been successfully implemented in countries like Rwanda and Kenya, significantly reducing fiber optic cuts.
Diversion of Lagos-calabar route
Following these suggestions by operators, critical telecom infrastructure and submarine cables, among other things, have been spared, as the federal government has deferred and redirected realignment of the Lagos-Calabar coastal road projects.
The Minister of Works, David Umahi, disclosed this while addressing stakeholders meeting in Lagos on Compensation and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) on the coastal road project informed community groups and traditional institutions in the state, particularly the Okun-Ajah community in Lagos.
With the presidential directive, Telcos, MTN submarine cables, and workstations along the Okun-Ajah community axis have been saved from demolition after a thorough assessment of the EIA impact on infrastructure and business activities along the Okun-Ajah community axis.
Umahi buttressed the need to redesign the route to save the 600 years of the ancestry of the Okun-Ajah community, adding that, the president, out of compassion to realize the project, added human phase to save property and infrastructure of the Okun-Ajah axis while applauding efforts of the president to divert alignment routes to save the communities from the ongoing demolition exercise stretching along the indigenous communities in the state.
Also speaking, the Group CEO, of Machine and Equipment Consortiums Africa, Mr. Iliyasu Abdullah said, three critical infrastructures located along the Okun-Ajah community had existed for 17 years, adding that, the submarine cables, and workstation that give support to infrastructure are critical infrastructure that forms significant part of the Internet gateway while applauding efforts of the federal government to save major national infrastructure.
Speaking on behalf of telecoms operators, the former president of ATCON, Engr. Ikechukwu Nnamani applauded the federal government’s plan to reroute the Lagos-Calabar road construction, as an effort to save critical telecommunication infrastructure.
