Suing perpetrators of fibre cuts is long overdue – Samuel Dowuona

Multiple award-winning tech journalist and Managing Editor of TechFocus24, Samuel Dowuona called on telcos in the country to start suing real estate and road construction companies who perpetrate fibre cuts and cause bad network service across the country, saying “it is long overdue.” 

His call comes on the heels of a campaign launched by the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications dubbed “Save Our Fibre” campaign, aimed at raising awareness about the impact of fibre cuts particularly by real estate and road construction workers.

The Chamber recently noted that in the first half of 2024, telcos in Ghana spent an estimated GHS118 million repairing 5,133 fibre cuts.

The “Save Our Fibre” campaign, which is being rolled out mainly on social media, will therefore spotlight construction projects responsible for fibre cuts, the communities impacted, and the steps being taken to restore service.

In addition to naming and shaming the perpetrators of fibre cuts, the Telecoms Chamber is said it is also urging the telcos to start taking legal action against them.

In an interview with ZED FM, Samuel Dowuona agreed entirely with the idea of naming and shaming real estate and road construction companies responsible for fibre cuts across the country, but he expressed disappointment in telcos for having not sued any of those organizations all these years.

“It saddens me that upon all the millions of dollars worth of damages and the frustration these companies have been causing telcos and Ghanaians over the years, the Telecoms Chamber in now talking about plans to sue them,” he said.

Samuel Dowuona noted that very often, common thieves who cut telecom cables and fibre or steal batteries at telecom cell sites are arrested, named and shamed, prosecuted and jailed. But the construction companies who cause the biggest and most frequent damages have yet to see one lawsuit.

“It does not even make sense that the telcos are the one who are having to spend millions of dollars every year fixing fibre cuts, while the road contractors working for government walk free after damaging telecoms fibre,” he said.

The award-winning journalists therefore suggested that any road contractor who damages telecoms infrastructures should be made to pay for the cost of repairs, and that money should be deducted from source by the Roads Ministry, and private real estate developers must also face the law and pay for damages.

Obvious Signposts

He also urged telcos to, as a preventive measure, mount very obvious and numerous signposts at very strategic points along the routes of the underground fibre, particularly in forests and other remote locations where construction workers often find it difficult to tell there are underground cables.

He said such signposts should clearly indicate the presence of fibre underground and also provide contact details for the construction workers to reach and get some clearance before applying their excavators.

Samuel Dowuona also believes that public education on the difference between fibre optics and regular cables will help, particular for thieves who cut fibre thinking they are looking for coper cables to sell to ornament makers and make some small money. Fibre can not be sold to people who make ornaments because it is not fit for purpose.

Source:techfocus24.com