Telecommunication services were severely disrupted in at least nine states across Nigeria during the first week of June 2025, following multiple incidents of fibre cuts, data from the Nigerian Communications Commission’s live incident portal revealed.

A review of the data showed that the disruptions affected major operators, including Airtel, MTN, 9Mobile, and Globacom, with interruptions reported in Rivers, Katsina, Lagos, Enugu, Benue, Anambra, Imo, Abia, and Akwa Ibom states.

Fibre cuts accounted for seven out of the nine recorded incidents during the period under review, affecting a range of services including voice calls, SMS, USSD, and mobile data.

Airtel was among the worst-affected providers, suffering three fibre cut incidents between June 1 and 5.

The first occurred on June 1 in Rivers State, disrupting data services in Degema, Obio-Akpor, and Port Harcourt for two hours and 44 minutes.

A similar disruption occurred the following day in the same locations, lasting one hour and 29 minutes.

On June 5, the company reported another outage due to fibre failure in Anambra and Imo States, including areas such as Ideato North, Owerri Municipal, and Owerri West.

This incident lasted one hour and nine minutes and affected all service types, including USSD and SMS.

9Mobile also recorded two major fibre cuts within the same period. On June 1, a disruption in Katsina affected 11 local government areas, including Daura, Funtua, and Dutsin Ma.

The outage, which lasted for one hour and 23 minutes, impacted all service channels.

Another incident on June 2 in Lagos caused significant disruptions in several commercial districts, including Apapa, Lagos Island, Mushin, and Surulere.

The outage, which lasted four hours and 20 minutes, was the longest recorded during the week.

MTN reported a fibre cut on June 2, affecting parts of Benue and several local councils in Enugu State. Areas such as Nsukka, Udi, Isi Uzo, and Igbo Eze South experienced service interruptions for 52 minutes.

According to the live report, SMS, voice, and data services were affected.

Globacom also suffered a fibre cut on June 5 that disrupted services in Abia, Akwa Ibom, Imo, and Rivers, including Aba North, Umuahia South, and Okigwe. The incident lasted 46 minutes.

However the disruptions were not limited to fibre cuts.

On June 3, MTN reported a power outage that impacted service delivery in parts of Borno and Gombe states.

Areas affected included Maiduguri, Gombe, Biu, Dukku, and Yamaltu/Deba.

The power failure, which lasted 42 minutes, affected SMS, voice, and data connectivity.

In a separate incident on June 2, Glo reported that acts of vandalism had disrupted telecom services in Enugu State and the Federal Capital Territory.

That incident affected users in Enugu East, Enugu North, and Enugu South for two hours and eight minutes.

The widespread outages affected all categories of telecom services — including voice calls, SMS, USSD codes used for banking and financial transactions, and mobile internet.

This had implications not just for personal communications but also for businesses, digital services, and financial operations that rely heavily on uninterrupted telecom infrastructure.

According to the breakdown of the incidents, Rivers State was hit twice within two days, both times involving Airtel’s infrastructure.

Enugu State experienced disruptions from both MTN and Glo, while 9Mobile’s outages were concentrated in Katsina and Lagos.

Other affected states include Anambra, Imo, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Benue, Borno, and Gombe, with some locations being impacted by more than one operator.

The incidents also highlighted the exposure of telecom infrastructure to external risks. While fibre cuts often result from construction activities or accidental damage during roadworks, the Glo case of vandalism points to more deliberate sabotage.

Similarly, the MTN power outage underlines the broader infrastructure challenges facing the telecom sector, particularly the reliance on national electricity supply for transmission hubs.

The NCC’s new portal provides a real-time view into service disruptions and response times, offering a level of transparency that industry analysts say is long overdue.

However, the frequency and scale of these disruptions suggest that deeper structural issues remain unresolved.

Sunday PUNCH gathered that repairs and revenue losses from damaged cables were estimated to have cost Nigeria’s telecom industry almost N27bn ($23m) in 2023, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg.

MTN Nigeria, the biggest wireless operator in Africa’s most populous nation, and Airtel Africa Plc bore the brunt of the costs, the documents show.

MTN suffered more than 6,000 cuts on its fiber cable last year, the documents showed. On Feb. 28, a cut in its network in three different locations by a road construction firm, an oil serving company, and someone burning rubbish in a manhole meant customers faced more than five hours of data and voice outages.

The operator relocated 2,500 kilometres (1,553 miles) of vulnerable fibre cables between 2022 and 2023, at a cost of more than N11bn, enough to build 870 kilometres of new fibre lines in areas without coverage.

Broadband fibre optic cables form the backbone of modern communication infrastructure, enabling the high-speed data transmission that underpins a wide range of personal, business, and societal activities.

On several occasions, the Nigerian Communications Commission, the industry regulator, has acknowledged this challenge and expressed willingness to work on measures to address it.

Telecom executives recently asked for stricter regulations to curb the rising cases of fibre cuts in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial hub, which have cost operators an estimated N5bn in 2024 alone, causing widespread network disruptions and service outages.

Accidental damage during road excavations remains a major cause, often resulting from poor coordination between construction firms and telecom operators.

Without a comprehensive solution, telecom companies will continue to face operational inefficiencies and financial strain, while subscribers endure unreliable network services.

“Over 2,500 fibre cuts were recorded in the state last year, causing widespread service disruptions and financial losses,” Senior Manager at Broadbased Communications, Jude Ighomena, said at the recent Policy Implementation Assisted Forum in Lagos.

During a panel discussion, the CEO of Cedarview Communications Ltd, Wale Owoeye, stressed the need to classify fibre cables as critical national infrastructure to ensure better protection.

“Telecom infrastructure is vital to national security, e-governance, telemedicine, and financial services.

Last year, President Bola Tinubu issued an official gazette designating telecom infrastructure as Critical National Information Infrastructure.

This move criminalises the willful destruction of telecom assets, including fibre optic cables, towers, data centres, and satellite systems.

Telecom executives advocated a Fibre Protection Framework that would centralise regulations, enforce real-time monitoring systems, and introduce strict penalties for those responsible for fibre cuts.

In response, the Federal Government established a Joint Standing Committee on the Protection of Fibre-Optic Cables to curb the recurring damage to telecommunications infrastructure caused by road construction and rehabilitation projects.

The initiative, spearheaded by the Federal Ministry of Works and the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, aims to ensure better coordination between government agencies and telecom operators to prevent disruptions to critical communication networks.

Also, Nigeria’s telecoms regulator introduced new rules requiring operators to notify consumers of major network outages and compensate users when service disruptions exceed 24 hours, in a move aimed at boosting transparency and accountability across the sector.

Under the new regulations, mobile network operators, internet service providers, and other last-mile service providers must inform consumers of major outages via media channels.

They are required to disclose the cause of the outage, affected areas, and the estimated time for service restoration.

Planned maintenance or service disruptions must be announced at least one week in advance. (Sunday PUNCH)