‘1,022 fibre cuts in seven months’ — Airtel seeks FG’s help in telcos’ assets protection

Airtel Nigeria says it is losing revenue as a result of attacks on its assets across the country.

Emeka Opara, the company’s vice president for corporate communications and corporate social responsibility, told journalists that companies relying on the company’s service have been affected by the challenges.

“We are losing money. It is not in the best interest of anyone to have dropped calls. It is affecting businesses relying on us. We are also concerned about our reputation,” he told journalists in Lagos on Thursday.

In his remarks, Adedoyin Adeola, the company’s vice president for network operations, urged the federal government to add assets used in the telecommunications industry to the list of critical national infrastructure (CNI).

Adeola said the absence of the telecommunications industry on CNI has exposed resources and assets to theft, vandalism and fibre cuts which result in dropped calls and other poor customers’ experiences.

“There have been 1,022 fibre cuts since July 2019. Airtel has over 282 bombed sites. 164 of them have been recovered of which 42 were bombed again,” he said.

“What we are telling the government is to put telecom into critical national infrastructure. If CNI is there, fibre cut will be well managed and anyone stealing our infrastructure will know that the consequence is severe.

“When we are granted CNI, the security status of our sites will begin to change.”

In November 2019, Isa Pantami, the minister of communications and digital economy, had said the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration will issue an executive order to declare telecommunications infrastructure as critical national infrastructure.

A bill has also been presented to the national assembly demanding the inclusion of telecommunications assets on CNI.