The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says over 50,000 telecom infrastructure were destroyed in the country in five years raising concerns over the erosion of Quality of Experience (QoE) and the faster depreciation of telecoms assets.
Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, who was represented by the Head, Corporate Communication of the commission, Mrs Nnena Ukoha, made this known at the 2022 edition of Youth Civil Society and Stakeholders Summit (YCSSS) in Abuja,
Dambatta said incident had great implication on the quality of telecommunications services in Nigeria, adding that the incidents had also continued to affect QoE to consumers.
He called for concerted efforts by the members of the public and security agencies to address the negative trend.
According to him, the impact of vandalism of infrastructure is felt by all in the quality of services rendered, as it results in increasing drop calls, data and Internet connectivity disruptions, aborted and undelivered short messaging services (SMS), as well as countless failed calls.
NCC boss said the negative impacts of incessant vandalism of telecom equipment, such as fibre cuts, theft of telecom facilities like generators at sites, vandalism of base stations, among other vices, had become a major burden on the service providers.
he said the telecom consumers had continued to suffer unwarranted disruptions of their hard-earned services.
According to him, considering the well-known fact that the ability to connect and communicate is fundamental to human existence, improvement in businesses processes, government services, education, as well as social and family networking through seamless connections, every community should get involved in protecting the critical infrastructure that makes these services possible.
Therefore, as a community, you are expected to report cases of vandalism of telecoms infrastructure to the nearest law enforcement agencies such as the Police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, and also share adequate information received from NCC with your family, friends, and neighbours.
“We believe, with your cooperation as critical stakeholders in the telecoms sector, we can all work with the law enforcement authorities in protecting telecom infrastructure in your community,” he said. (DailyLegendng)