Telecom Chamber launches campaign to stop fibre cuts

Dr Ken Ashigbey

The Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications has rolled out a campaign to stop fibre cuts and their negative impact on the country’s telecommunications infrastructure and customers’ network experience.

Named “Save Our Fibre” campaign, it would raise awareness about fibre cuts and their impacts, publicise construction projects that lead to fibre cuts as well as update the public on the steps taken to fix the damaged fibre.

According to the Chamber, this had become necessary because in the first half of 2024 alone, there were a total of 5,133 cuts across the country, which cost the network companies GH¢ 118 million to repair.

A release issued by the Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber, Dr Ken Ashigbey, on Tuesday in Accra to announce the campaign said the funds spent on the repairs could have been used to expand and enhance services.

It stated that fibre-optic cables were critical in the modern telecoms industry as they connect to the networks’ operating systems to provide faster data transfers, supporting high bandwidth applications and services.

The release explained that for real-time communication and seamless connectivity, fibre was reliable, offering a secure choice for data transmission towards offering resistance to spatial interferences.

It said the cables ensured clear transmissions and in many cases, the most preferred resource for providing seamless telecommunications services, thus an essential component of modern network operations.

The statement indicated that even though fibre was expected to be secured when buried underground, the experience in Ghana was quite different as there were frequent cuts and damages to fibre laid.

This, it said, resulted in frequent disruptions directly affecting the quality and availability of telecom services to Ghanaians, especially in communication, internet connectivity, and other essential services that rely on networks.

“These cuts, sadly, impact customer experiences and create congestion, poor voice calls, slow internet experience and, in some cases, completely cut off network services, this situation is unacceptable as it undermines the significant investments made by telecom operators to deliver reliable services,” it said.

To address these challenges, the statement explained that it had been engaging the Ministry of Roads and Highways, road agencies, road contractors, utility companies, and other key stakeholders who undertake major construction and excavations in the country especially the National Engineering Coordinating Team (NECT), to push for better collaboration to protect telecom infrastructure utility services during construction.

It indicated that despite these efforts, some entities involved in these damaging activities had remained recalcitrant, repeatedly causing harm to critical telecom infrastructure directly impacting onservice quality, leading to outages, slowdowns, and interruptions that frustrate subscribers and hinder the country’s digital progress.

The release said the Chamber, in order to address these challenges, would now seek the support of the Police and Judiciary to prosecute those responsible for these recurrent fibre cuts.

He said the Chamber was considering taking legal action against uncooperative individuals and entities, towards ensuring that they are held accountable.

BYTIMES REORTER