ALTON chief blasts vandals, diesel thieves for poor service quality
On Nigeria Radio FM 99.3, during the weekend, the Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Engr. Gbenga Adebayo laid bare the industrial nightmare currently crippling phone signals across the federation.
Addressing the ‘dead call’ epidemic question asked by veteran broadcast journalist, Jimi Disu, Adebayo revealed that the primary culprits are not the operators themselves, but a relentless wave of infrastructure sabotage. From fibre optic cables being sliced during road construction to the rampant theft of diesel at cell sites, the network is under siege.
Adebayo explained that the massive capital investment required is no longer sustainable for single companies to bear, leading to the widespread adoption of ‘colocation’.
This process involves multiple service providers sharing the same masts and towers to reduce overheads. Regarding the collaborative nature of the industry, Adebayo noted, “At the end of the day, we have one national network; so the problems, the issues are common to all of us and the solution should be collective”
The ALTON Chairman highlighted the human cost of these technical failures. In many regions, technicians are unable to attend to outages that occur after 6:00 PM due to severe security risks, including the threat of being attacked by armed vandals.
Describing the danger faced by engineers, he stated, “We have territories that we cannot access because of issues of security”. He cited a staggering example in a Lekki neighbourhood where residents lacked public power for four months, yet expected seamless telecommunications, a feat nearly impossible when operators must pay community groups just to load diesel onto sites.
Beyond physical theft, the Chairman argued that the industry is being squeezed by systemic pressures. The problems the citizens face are also the same as those faced by telecom operators. He noted that telecommunications is essentially ‘one national network,’ meaning a failure in a single fibre link or a site outage in one area often cascades into a wider service disruption for millions, debunking the popular myth that companies provide poor quality service intentionally.
Ultimately, Adebayo called for a change in the national culture regarding infrastructure. He argued that despite the high intellect and goodwill of the Nigerian public, the habit of sabotaging essential services remains a massive hurdle to global standards.
Until the government and communities can guarantee the safety of fibre cables and cell sites, the “nightmare” of dropped calls will likely persist despite the massive capital investments being poured into the sector by the operators.
