We’ve all felt the frustration.
– A meeting drops mid-sentence.
– A POS terminal fails when you need it most.
– A client calls — but you’re unreachable.
– A ride-hailing driver can’t find you because the map won’t load.
From students missing online lessons to vendors waiting endlessly for payments that won’t process, these moments aren’t just technical glitches. They’re lost opportunities, broken trust, and disrupted lives. In today’s digital economy, connectivity isn’t convenience — it’s survival. And when fibre breaks, everything stops.
The Invisible Infrastructure Powering Nigeria’s Economy
Fibre optic cables are the veins of Nigeria’s fast-growing digital ecosystem. Buried beneath our roads, bridges, estates, campuses, and business districts, they connect telecom networks, banks, fintechs, hospitals, schools, data centres, government platforms, and millions of daily users.
But as Nigeria rapidly expands — through road construction, rail projects, power upgrades, and real estate development — these cables are constantly at risk.
Between January and August 2025 alone, operators recorded:
19,384 fibre cuts
3,241 equipment theft cases
Thousands of site-access disruptions
That’s over 1,000 fibre cuts every week.
More Than Broken Cables — A National Economic Risk
The financial cost runs into tens of billions of naira annually, but the real damage goes deeper.
Banks face failed transactions.
POS terminals stop working.
Fintech apps go offline.
Flights and logistics stall.
Hospitals struggle with digital records.
Students miss exams and results.
Small businesses lose income they may never recover.
Consumers endure poor service, rising data costs, and growing distrust in digital platforms. What many call “bad network” is often broken infrastructure underground — and in a country increasingly dependent on digital systems, this is no longer a minor inconvenience. It’s a national vulnerability.
Why Fibre Cuts Keep Happening
Fibre cables don’t cut themselves.
Most damage occurs when:
Contractors dig without checking maps
Roadwork’s ignore buried infrastructure
Utilities rush projects
Vandals steal cables for scrap or ransom
Communities unknowingly allow repeated damage
Some cuts are accidental. Others are avoidable. Many are profitable for bad actors. Repairing damage after it happens is not enough — prevention is the real solution.
What Government and Telcos Are Already Doing
Telecom operators and regulators are not standing still.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and ALTON, working with federal ministries and security agencies, have intensified coordination to address the crisis.
In February 2025, the Federal Ministry of Works, Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, and NCC inaugurated a Joint Standing Committee on the Protection of Fibre Optic Cables — integrating fibre protection into road planning, construction processes, and enforcement frameworks.
Security agencies are cracking down on vandalism, and national awareness campaigns via SMS, digital ads, and social platforms are educating citizens on the cost of fibre damage.
But regulation and enforcement alone aren’t enough.
Why This Is Everyone’s Problem
Like electricity lines and water pipes, fibre cables run through communities, estates, construction sites, campuses, and business districts — places government and telcos can’t monitor every minute.
Without cooperation from:
Contractors
Developers
Estate managers
Community leaders
Business owners
Everyday citizens
… fibre cuts will continue.
Protecting Nigeria’s digital backbone cannot be left to telcos and government alone. Everyone who benefits from connectivity must help protect it.
The Real Solution: Shared Responsibility
Fixing fibre cuts requires clear roles:
Government must enforce strong penalties, mandate coordination, and unify underground infrastructure mapping.
Telcos must invest in redundancy, deeper cable protection, real-time monitoring, and advanced detection systems.
Construction firms and utilities must stop digging blindly and treat fibre like power lines or gas pipelines.
Communities must protect what runs through their streets and report suspicious activity.
Businesses and citizens must support awareness and compliance.
No single stakeholder can solve this — but together, Nigeria can.
The Future: Smart Protection, Not Emergency Repairs
Nigeria must move from reacting to fibre damage to preventing it.
That future includes:
– National digital maps of underground infrastructure
– Mandatory “call-before-you-dig” systems
– AI and IoT sensors to detect vibration and threats in real time
– Stronger coordination between Telco’s, contractors, and regulators
Technology can help — but it cannot replace human responsibility.
Call to Action
Fibre cuts happen underground — but their impact hits everything above ground: our money, our businesses, our safety, and our future.
Nigeria cannot build a cashless economy, digital government, or globally competitive tech ecosystem on networks that fail daily without consequence.
It’s time to stop treating fibre damage as “normal” and start treating it as the national risk it truly is.
Government must enforce.
Telco’s must strengthen.
Businesses must comply.
Communities must protect.
Citizens must speak up.
Because in a digital economy, when fibre breaks, everything breaks — and fixing it is a responsibility we all share.
Adeola Kayode works at the intersection of Strategy, Marketing, and Technology. He is a Marketing Communications Expert in the Telecommunications industry, helping businesses and start-ups grow through clear strategy, meaningful storytelling, and scalable systems.📩 deolakayode@gmail.com
Credit: Nairametrics
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