The Nigerian Communication Commission reports that, during the past five years, over 10,000 telecommunication infrastructures have been destroyed annually. The commission made this statement while sounding the alarm regarding the impact of these incidents on the nation’s telecom services’ quality. At the Youth Civil Society and Stakeholders Summit in 2022, Prof. Umar Danbatta, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, revealed this.
He asked for coordinated efforts by the general public and security agencies to stop this and voiced concern over how these instances are harming consumers’ Quality of Experience. Danbatta, who was represented by the Head of the Commission’s Corporate Communications Unit, Mrs. Nnena Ukoha, claimed that the detrimental effects of ongoing vandalism of telecom equipment, as shown by fiber cuts, theft of telecom facilities like generators at sites, vandalism of base stations, and other vices, had become a significant burden on service providers, resulting in unwarranted service interruptions for telecom customers.
According to him, the impact of infrastructure vandalism is felt by everybody in the quality of services offered as it results in growing drop calls, data and Internet connectivity disruptions, aborted and undelivered short messaging services, as well as numerous failed calls. Therefore, as a community, you are expected to report incidents of vandalism of telecom infrastructure to the closest law enforcement agencies, such as the Police, Nigeria Security, and Civil Defence Corps, and to share the pertinent information you receive from the NCC with your family, friends, and neighbors. The commission thinks that with your help as one of the key players in the telecoms industry, we can all work with the law enforcement authorities to safeguard the telecom infrastructure in your neighborhood.
Communication technology drives the world of today, and any damage to the telecom infrastructure affects people’s capacity to communicate.
