Ghana’s digital backbone is under severe threat as the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications reveals a staggering spike in infrastructure vandalism and accidental damage.
In a briefing held during the launch of the Chamber’s 15th anniversary, Chief Executive Officer Sylvia Owusu-Ankomah disclosed that fibre optic cuts have escalated from a manageable 400 cases per year during the early days of network rollout to an overwhelming 8,000 annual incidents.
The crisis is now being described as a plague that is actively sabotaging the nation’s technological progress.
The Chamber links this vulnerability to the nation’s own success in digital expansion. Over the past decade and a half, internet penetration in Ghana has vaulted from a mere 4% to over 70%.
However, this rapid expansion has left thousands of kilometres of fibre cable exposed to road construction, illegal mining (galamsey), and general excavation.
Instead of funding the next generation of 5G rollout or rural connectivity, telecommunications companies are being forced to dump millions of cedis into a “repair-and-replace” cycle.
“We are experiencing over 8,000 cuts per annum when it comes to fibre cuts, which is increasingly a strain on our operators’ resources. Resources and investment that could have been used to ensure new rollouts, you find them using it to ensure they are meeting their quality obligations by repairing those fibre cuts,” Mrs Owusu-Ankomah explained.
To stem the bleeding, the industry is lobbying for the immediate legalisation of the “Dig Once” policy.
This proposal would mandate that all major road construction projects include the installation of protected underground ducts. This would allow multiple operators to lay fibre without repeatedly excavating roads, thereby shielding the cables from future construction damage.
The Chamber’s leadership maintains that after fifteen years of navigating these challenges, the time for dialogue has passed and the time for policy enforcement has arrived.
“So we want to make sure that the 15-year journey counts for something, and so one of the key milestones, as I said, is we want to stop the conversation around fibre cuts and get more progressive as a country,” the CEO remarked.
There is a glimmer of hope for the sector, as indications suggest the policy is currently being debated at the Cabinet level. The Chamber is urging the government to accelerate this process, viewing it as the only viable way to ensure network resilience and protect the consumer’s right to reliable service.
Mrs Owusu-Ankomah was firm in her stance that the industry’s maturity must now be reflected in its protective laws.
“This [fibre cuts] has been a plague of the industry for quite a while and we believe Ghana has matured enough to put a stop to it. That is why for us the ‘dig once’ policy needs to come to life this year,” she added.
Without the “Dig Once” intervention, the Chamber warns that service reliability will continue to fluctuate, directly impacting Ghana’s digital economy. As the industry looks toward future expansion, resolving this plague remains the single most important hurdle to sustaining network quality for millions of Ghanaian subscribers.
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Source: www.myjoyonline.com