MTN Nigeria, the country’s biggest telecom operator, spent N11.1 billion repairing and relocating 2,502km of fibre-optic cables over two years, according to data from the new GSMA Nigeria Digital Economy report.
It stated that if these funds had been used for rollout instead of maintenance, the operator with 77 million subscribers could have laid an additional 870 km of new fibre.
The costs showed that MTN spent N4.4bn in the 2022 financial year to repair 1,069km of fibre and an additional N6.7bn in 2023 to fix 1,433km.
It attributed the fibre damages to construction activities, road projects, and acts of vandalism.
The impact of fibre cuts continues to hinder network expansion, with funds allocated to repairs potentially diverting resources from expanding coverage in under-served areas.
“As a result, fibre networks in Nigeria are more expensive to build and maintain than they otherwise would be. These costs are substantial. For instance, MTN Nigeria was required to relocate 1,069km of fibre cables in FY22 and a further 1,433km in FY23. The budgets allocated for these activities were N4.4bn and N6.7bn, respectively,” the document stated.
According to Angela Wamola, head of Sub-Saharan Africa – GSMA,, “Vandalism and other forms of damage have been causing significant losses to the sector. In some cases, the affected areas are easily accessible and can be quickly repaired.
However, the damage has resulted in sustained complaints from consumers about the availability of services. This is one of the areas we’ve modeled in our report, which highlights the impact of vandalism on the evolution of connectivity in Nigeria.”
As of 2023, Nigeria had deployed 78,676km of fibre-optic cable, with most concentrated in urban areas like Lagos (7,864.60km), Edo (4,892.71km), FCT (4,472.03km), Ogun (4,189.18km), and Niger (3,681.66km).
