Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has decried the alarming rate of vandalism and theft of telecommunications infrastructure across the country.
The association, in a statement issued by its Publicity Secretary, Sir Damian Udeh, expressed deep concern over the increasing wave of sabotage in view of the disruptive impacts on network services, causing widespread connectivity blackouts and impacting millions of subscribers.
According to the group, the affected infrastructure does not totally belong to its members but to other mobile network operators (MNOs) and those who depend on them for connectivity.
It clarified: “Critical components such as power cables, rectifiers, fiber optic cables, diesel generators, batteries, and solar systems are vandalized and stolen from active sites.”
ALTON lamented that these acts of sabotage had led to prolonged downtimes, network congestion, widespread blackouts, and degradation of service quality.
The association listed the states with high frequency and intensity of attacks on telecom infrastructure as including Delta, Rivers, Cross Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Ogun, Ondo, Edo, Lagos, Kogi, FCT, Kaduna, Niger, Osun, Kwara, and Abuja recording the highest number of
It reminded the public that telecommunications infrastructure had been classified as Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) under the National Security framework and that vandalism remained a serious criminal offence with grave consequences for those engaging in the despicable acts.
ALTON, therefore, urged the public to recognize the severity of these incidents and the impact on the digital economy, security systems, national communications grid and the negative implications for national development.
It assured the public of its working tirelessly to improve the quality of service nationwide and called for urgent action by the governments, security agencies and the public to prevent the collapse of the nation’s telecommunications industry.
