Regulation

Nigeria targets ongoing fibre damage issues

Nigeria targets ongoing fibre damage issues

Regulator the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says it has teamed with the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to tackle telecom-related crimes, including, it seems, damage to fibre optic infrastructure.

According to the Ecofin news agency, this will particularly focus on construction companies, contractors and others whose projects repeatedly cut cables.

The NCC and NSCDC say they will take action to prevent further damage caused during excavation, roadworks or civil engineering projects carried out without prior coordination with network operators and relevant regulators.

NCC suggests that excavation, drilling, trenching and road construction are the main causes of accidental fibre cuts. Of more than 50,000 incidents recorded in 2024, around 30,000 were said to be linked to road projects undertaken by federal and state authorities.

This partnership follows the creation in February 2025 of an inter-ministerial committee for the protection of fibre optics, followed by the May launch of a dedicated platform for the public to report such incidents. In April 2025, telecom operators formed an industry infrastructure protection group to coordinate prevention and response efforts.

In fact since August 2024 telecommunications infrastructure, including fibre optics, has been designated as Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII). Damaging such infrastructure is now a criminal offence.

Despite these measures, says Ecofin, fibre optic vandalism continues. One operator, MTN, has reported 9,218 fibre cuts in 2025, or about 25 per day. That compares with around 9,000 incidents in 2024.

Protecting fibre infrastructure is a growing concern, given the government’s announcement in May 2024 of  a US$2 billion project to deploy 90,000 kilometres of fibre across the country, an initiative that could generate jobs and growth, assuming, of course, that most of the cables remain undamaged.



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