The Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) has called for collaboration between government, telecommunications operators and construction companies to mitigate the challenges of fibre cable cuts.
ATCON President, Mr Tony Emoekpere, made the call at the inaugural edition of ATCON Critical Conversation Breakfast Meeting in Lagos.
The theme of the meeting was, ‘The Direct and Indirect Cause and Impact of Metro, Terrestrial and Submarine Fibre Disruptions (cuts): Short, Medium and Long-term Sustainable Resolution.’
Emoekpere said collaboration between telecoms operators, government developers and construction companies would also settle the issue of who should provide compensation for fibre cable cuts.
The ATCON president called for training and awareness creation on the importance of fibre cables, the danger and negative impact of fibre cable cuts and for telecoms assets to be declared as critical national infrastructure (CNI).
Emoekpere said, “Telecom stakeholders cannot continue to pay lip service to issues and challenges that have constituted stumbling block to the sector’s growth, especially fibre cuts.”
“This meeting aims at enabling stakeholders to look at the issues bordering on metro, terrestrial and submarine fibre disruptions, which have become recurring decimals in the Nigerian telecom industry.
“The stakeholders are the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) and the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA).”
He said the special breakfast meeting would help to have a comprehensive engagement with relevant agencies to receive feedback and recommendation to map a way forward.
According to him, months ago, there was a reported case of submarine cut which significantly impacted Nigeria and some other countries.
“The incidences of metro, terrestrial and submarine fibre disruptions (cuts) have become a recurring decimal which must be addressed by relevant agencies at all levels of government.
“Our members have had to pay substantial amount of money to have all these disruptions fixed and this is impacting on their operational expenses which should not be, if the perpetrators are brought to book,” Emoekpere said.
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