Telcos in Ghana record over 2,000 fibre cuts in the first half of 2019

According to the data released by the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications this situation is affecting over 18 million subscribers.

The Chamber said that the fibre cuts and thefts remain a major challenge since it affects the quality of service and customer experience across the country. This also threatens the long-term sustainability of the mobile technology ecosystem, upon which Ghana’s digitization agenda relies heavily on in delivering a formal, smart economy and connected society for Ghanaians.

The data also revealed that the fibre cuts were mainly caused by private developers, road contractors, unknown criminals, and other utility providers.

This cost the industry over GH¢30 million in direct repairs only (without counting the cost of loss of revenue, the non-traditional temporary solutions deployed as well as additional capital expenditure to keep network availability stable).

Meanwhile, over 150,000 litres of diesel, and 240 batteries stolen from the cell sites.

CEO of the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications, Kenneth Ashigbey ece-auto-gen

Chief Executive of the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications, Kenneth Ashigbey said: “the data gathered speaks to the enormous problem that service providers are faced with; where limited funds are being expended on repairs of cuts and replacement of equipment as against expanding the network to enhance quality, reach and experience for customers.”

“The service providers have to deploy extra meshed networks to provide additional redundancies to ensure that, the over 300 cuts being experienced per month currently does not impact more than 25% of the network.”

“We cannot continue to accept this menace as a norm, and we are working assiduously to reach all partners and stakeholders who work within the Right of Way (RoW) across the country to agree on modalities to reduce if not eradicate the menace,” he added.

To change this trend, the Chamber is embarking on a Sensitization Outreach in 4 main regions where reports of cable thefts, cuts and damage are rampant to build awareness towards enforcement.

The workshops will engage with all stakeholders including security teams within the regions to ensure that criminals who tamper with telecommunications infrastructure are legally dealt with.

The first Sensitization Outreach will be held on Thursday, June 27, 2019, in Cape Coast.