Telecoms operators report 33,000 cases of vandalism, theft by host communities
The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC has disclosed that telecoms operators have reported about 33,000 cases of vandalism and theft targeted at their facilities.
This unsavoury development was made known by the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta represented by Mrs. Helen Obi, the Head, Zonal Operations Department at a one-day sensitization programme in Minna, Niger State. The event which was organized to help raise awareness on the need to protect telecoms infrastructure, highlighted issues affecting the industry.
“Telecom facilities have been targets of vandalism, theft and hostility in some host communities. These have been the recurring challenges that have affected the attainment of applicable service standards in the industry,” the NCC boss said.
It was revealed that these incidents which took place between June 2017 and August 2018 affected key infrastructures like fibre cables and battery installations, with Glo suffering the worse hit overall.
The vandalism has posed a lot of challenges to the telecoms industry and is responsible for network disruptions that have led to the issue of poor service in some parts of the country. This has inadvertently caused huge losses to the operators, reduced revenue for the government, and hampered a satisfactory user experience.
“The advent of telecommunication has changed the way we live comparatively to how we lived in 2001. However, there are some challenges pervading the seamless provision of services in the country.” he said.
Danbatta further stressed the need for the National Assembly to swiftly pass the pending Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) bill that will designate telecoms infrastructures as critical national asset to curtail the rising rate of destruction and theft by ensuring the facilities are protected.
