(Ecofin Agency) – In Nigeria, telecoms consumers constantly complain about the quality of services provided by telecom operators. According to the latter, one of the main causes of this situation is the vandalism of their infrastructure, particularly fiber optics.
Femi Adeniran (pictured), Director of Communications and Corporate Responsibility at telecommunications company Airtel Nigeria, has called on various stakeholders in the sector to take urgent measures to protect fiber optic infrastructure in the face of increasing vandalism . In a post on LinkedIn on Tuesday, December 24, he said the company has suffered 7,742 cases of outages on its fiber network over the past six months.
“These disruptions not only inconvenience consumers, but also businesses, delay government operations and compromise public safety, especially in emergency situations”said Mr. Adeniran.
This call comes as the Nigerian government signed an order last August criminalizing any attack on telecommunications infrastructure. Femi Adeniran calls for strengthening law enforcement and coordination between stakeholders, as well as regulating construction companies. It also proposes simplifying the right of way, using geospatial tools to anticipate and respond to incidents, and carrying out public awareness actions.
Protecting fiber optic infrastructure can help improve the quality of services provided to Nigerian consumers, who constantly complain, especially through social media. However, it is important to clarify that this is only a call to action from Airtel Nigeria at this time. We will therefore have to wait for concrete actions coordinated between stakeholders to translate this intention into tangible results.
Isaac K. Kassouwi
Published by Sèna DB de Sodji
Also read:
08/22/2024 – Nigeria criminalizes any attack on telecoms infrastructure
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