In June 2024, Nigeria signed the Designation and Safety of Important Nationwide Info Infrastructure Order (CNII), which classifies telecom infrastructure, reminiscent of fibre cables, information centres, and towers, as essential nationwide belongings and makes their safety a matter of nationwide safety. Nonetheless, one 12 months on, Nigeria is seeing report ranges of fibre cuts and community disruptions, elevating questions in regards to the coverage’s implementation.
Between January and June 2025, Nigeria recorded 349 main community outages—a mean of two per day, in response to Uptime, a community monitoring web site launched by the Nigerian Communications Fee (NCC). Might alone witnessed 75 disruptions, the very best in any single month up to now this 12 months.
Within the first 12 days of June, there have been 19 extra outages, with 11 attributable to fibre cuts, seven by energy failures, and one resulting from tools vandalism. These outages have affected states throughout the nation, together with Borno, Kaduna, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Imo, Rivers, Anambra, and Lagos, and have disrupted important companies reminiscent of USSD banking, voice calls, and web connectivity.
Business frustration mounts
Gbenga Adebayo, Chairman of the Affiliation of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), acknowledged the delay in implementing the CNII framework. “I have to admit we now have been too sluggish in getting the operationalisation of the CNII Order off the bottom,” he stated. “That is because of the back-and-forth between stakeholders. However we wish the outcomes to be sustainable and final for a very long time.”
That delay is proving pricey.
In Lagos alone, telcos misplaced an estimated ₦5 billion ($10.8 million) in 2024 resulting from greater than 2,500 fibre cuts. MTN Nigeria spent ₦11.1 billion ($24.1 million) between 2022 and 2023 to restore and relocate over 2,500 kilometres of fibre-optic cables, assets that might have gone into increasing community infrastructure in underserved areas. The telecom business misplaced an estimated ₦27 billion ($58.6 million) to fibre-related damages in 2023.
These losses transcend monetary metrics. Each fibre lower delays companies to banks, hospitals, authorities places of work, and companies. In June 2025, a Glo fibre lower in Abia and Rivers states left subscribers with out USSD, SMS, voice, or information companies for almost an hour. Airtel confronted the same problem in Anambra and Imo, with over an hour of disruption. These outages have far-reaching financial penalties, undermining confidence in digital companies and stalling digital transactions.
Wider financial dangers
For companies depending on cloud computing, digital funds, and distant work, these community failures are a direct menace to income and productiveness.
Within the ultimate week of Might 2025, fibre cuts in Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, and Yobe introduced enterprise operations to a standstill. Residents couldn’t entry primary telecom companies, banks struggled with failed USSD transactions, and healthcare suppliers have been locked out of telemedicine platforms.
Recognising the financial dangers, some states are taking steps to assist telecom operators.
“It’s a part of why we eradicated Proper of Approach (RoW) charges,” stated Suleiman Isah, Commissioner for Communication Know-how and Digital Economic system in Niger State. “We’ve additionally partnered with the NCC and telecom suppliers to coordinate with the Ministry of Works and Water Assets, so there’s advance discover earlier than any development that might impression fibre routes.”
Niger is considered one of 12 states which have waived RoW prices to speed up fibre deployment. However fibre cuts proceed to rise. On Might 8, 2025, a Globacom fibre line working by way of Kebbi, Niger, and Sokoto was severed by street contractors from China Civil Engineering Building Company (CCECC), knocking out web entry in a number of communities for almost three hours. One other incident in Niger State on June 10 disrupted SMS, voice, and information companies throughout eight communities and took greater than two hours to repair.
Restore instances range broadly—from half-hour to a number of hours or days—relying on the terrain, accessibility, and the state of supporting infrastructure like roads or drainage programs. Every hour misplaced chips away at financial exercise, buyer belief, and Nigeria’s broader digital transformation objectives.
Guarantees of progress
The CNII Order was designed to make the willful harm of telecom infrastructure a severe prison offense, with penalties of as much as 10 years imprisonment. It additionally known as for minimal safety requirements, coordinated info sharing, and enforcement led by the Workplace of the Nationwide Safety Adviser (ONSA) and the Nigeria Safety and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC). These measures have but to yield tangible enhancements.
Adebayo stated stakeholders—together with ALTON, the NCC, the Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economic system, ONSA, and NSCDC—have now reached consensus on the most effective strategy for implementation.
The NCC lately signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Works to guard fibre infrastructure throughout street development. “You’ll quickly begin seeing the implementation of what we now have been engaged on,” Adebayo stated.
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