The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MTN Ghana, Stephen Blewett, has described persistent fibre optic cable cuts as a major operational challenge undermining the company’s service delivery across the country.
Speaking at a recent Editors and Stakeholders Forum held in Tamale, Mr. Blewett emphasized that these disruptions—mostly caused by road construction, property development, and other infrastructure projects—have resulted in frequent service interruptions for MTN customers. He noted that the issue not only compromises the quality of service but also leads to significant financial losses.
According to Mr. Blewett, fibre cut statistics show an average of four incidents per day across the country.
“Fibre cuts are a massive plague on our business. You need to understand what it does—when the fibre is cut, the base station can’t give you the connectivity you need,” he said.
“I was shocked when I heard the numbers. If you average it out over the year, we experience almost four fibre cuts per day. I’ve been in this industry for 20 years—I was the CEO of MTN Benin and MTN Cameroon, and I’ve worked as the Western and Central Africa head for Congo B and Liberia. I have never heard of anything like this in my entire career. Four fibre cuts a day—it severely affects the quality of the network.”
Mr. Blewett urged greater public awareness of the importance of fibre infrastructure. “When you see fibre and think, ‘I’ll just cut it to install a water pump or build a driveway,’ you are damaging a critical part of the nation’s infrastructure. People need to understand the impact—it affects mobile money, internet connectivity, and more.”
He called for stricter enforcement of regulations related to excavation permits and urged closer collaboration with road construction agencies and utility companies to prevent such incidents. He also advocated for legislative action to protect telecommunications infrastructure from intentional or negligent damage.
In response to the ongoing threat, MTN Ghana continues to invest in strengthening its network resilience by exploring alternative cable routing and reinforcing existing infrastructure to reduce the impact of fibre cuts.
Source: A1Radioonline.com | 101.1 MHz | Samuel Adagom | Bolgatanga
