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Many telecom subscribers who relied on the
mobile phones for businesses were rendered incommunicado as they were neither
able to make and receive calls while there was an almost total outage of data
services due to what Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) blamed on multiple fibre
cuts that disrupted the entire network.
Even many subscribers who relied on their MNOs
to make financial transactions were also disappointed because they couldn’t
send cash for goods purchased.
According to stats from the Nigerian
Communications Commission (NCC), total fiber optics deployment in the country stood
at 96,198 km (terrestrial fiber and submarine cable) as at December 2022.
Since the fibre optic cables are laid under
the ground, they are highly susceptible to cuts during road and other
infrastructure constructions across the country.
The fibre optic network technology is
generally accepted in the telecom sector because it is the fastest and most
widely used medium of backhaul transmission that offers the required capacity
and capability to meet the required telecoms needs of customers. It provides
enhanced features and advantages that are superior to copper-based and wireless
backhaul transmission options.
When this infrastructure is vandalised, it leads
to low browsing/download speed, high drop call rate, low call setup success
rate/congestion and voice quality degradation (clipping voice).
Reacting to the development yesterday, the
Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), said it has
received reports of cuts on their fibre network of the MNOs arising from the
action of contractors that have just moved to site.
Chairman of the group, Gbenga Adebayo, said
there were reports of multiple fibre cuts that took toll on the integrity of
the network.
He blamed it on government contractors that
just moved to site.
Also reacting to the network outage,
Nigeria’s largest carrier, MTN, appealed for understanding to its 87,038,768
customers representing 38.79 per cent of the total 224,713,710 subscribers,
according to the Subscriber Data/Teledensity Data January 2023 compiled by the
NCC.
“Our customers have been experiencing
challenges connecting to the network due to a major service outage caused by
multiple fibre cuts, affecting voice and data services. Our engineers are
working hard to resolve with services gradually being restored in some areas.
“We apologise for the inconvenience and ask
for your patience & understanding as the team works to restore full service
as soon as possible,” a statement from the telco explained.
Also reacting, Communication Lead at
9mobile, Chineze Amanfo, said the telco has also received reports about cuts on
its fibre optic cables, leading to subscribers’ nightmare on the network. Like
MTN, she assured that services would be normalised as engineers were already on
the field trying to fix the problem.
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