Fibre cuts, one of the major challenges of quality of telecoms service in Nigeria has started rearing its ugly head in Ghana as latest statistics from the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications (GCT) shows a record of 2,000 fibre cuts across the country, resulting in disruptions in communication services.
GCT said out of the figure, Ashanti Region alone recorded over 370 fibre cuts, which was about 25 per cent and estimated at about GHC6million loss to the country.
Added to these, the industry also recorded theft of over 150,000 litres of diesel, and 240 batteries in the same period from the cell sites nationwide, which affected a whopping 18 million subscribers and businesses within the value chain.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the GCT, Mr Kenneth Ashigbey told Business Hilights Ghana Bureau chief in Kumasi that the cuts are mainly traced to the activities of road contractors, private developers and unknown criminals, adding that the situation was not a pleasant one and called for a collaborative effort by all stakeholders to minimize the trend.
Making a presentation at a sensitization workshop by the mobile industry in Kumasi, Ashigbey noted that “We cannot continue to accept this problem as the norm, therefore, we are here today to work with the stakeholders to agree on a better way of doing things, to reduce drastically the impact of these cuts, thefts and damage to our infrastructure,” he said.
The workshop was the fourth in the series of regional engagements with stakeholders’ in finding solutions to the stressed quality of telecom services in parts of Ghana.
The event had taken turns in the Central, Western and Eastern Regions, during which the prevalence of fibre cuts, cable related thefts and vandalism to communication infrastructure, was highlighted.
However, as a way of finding solution, participants agreed to power the Regional Engineering Coordinating Team (RECT) and the District Engineering Coordinating Team (DECT) in managing issues concerning the right of way activities within the Metropolis, Municipalities and Districts in Ghana.
