Nigerian telecoms seek protection against infrastructure vandalization

Nigerian telecommunication service providers lamented over incessant damage to their facilities, according to a news report by 'Daily Trust'.

Due to the damage in the facilities, the firms are facing many problems such as call drops, undelivered text messages, poor data network in recent times, according to the report. The providers reportedly sought special protection for their infrastructure to enhance a good network in Nigeria.

Director, Corporate Communications and CSR, Airtel Nigeria, Emeka Opara, in a media interview, urged the government to tackle vandalism, insecurity, and insurgency, otherwise, the current spate of dropped calls being experienced would continue.

Opara said that if the government declares the telecom infrastructure as "critical national" infrastructure then this will be a safeguard to the telecom infrastructure. Nigeria's one of the largest telecom provider, Airtel, alone recorded 1,022 cases of fiber cuts between July 2019 and February 11, 2020.

To solve the network congestion and network failure problems, he also urged the federal and state governments to hasten the approval process for Right of Way (RoW) for fiber deployment and quicken the Environmental Impact Analysis (EIA) approval process.

The Nigerian Communications Commission Director, Technical Services, Bako Wakil, said the NCC has been working with the National Assembly, ministries and security agencies to ensure passage of the bill at the legislature for the prosecution of offenders.

Adedoyin Adeola, Vice President of Airtel Nigeria, said that telecoms installations across Nigeria were repeatedly vandalized, stolen, bombed and destroyed with reckless abandon.