Telecom operators under the umbrella of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) have issued a distress call over the rising wave of vandalism and theft targeting telecommunications infrastructure across the country, warning that the trend threatens to reverse recent gains in network quality and digital expansion.
ALTON, in a statement signed by its Chairman, Engr. Gbenga Adebayo, revealed that from May to July 2025 alone, its members recorded multiple incidents of sabotage across cell sites in states including Rivers, Ogun, Osun, Imo, Kogi, Ekiti, Lagos, and the Federal Capital Territory, among others.
These attacks have led to widespread connectivity blackouts, service degradation, and prolonged network downtimes, affecting millions of subscribers.
“This is not just theft, this is sabotage of critical national infrastructure,” the association stated, pointing out that telecom assets are legally designated as Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) under Federal Government Gazette No. 133, Volume 108 of March 17, 2021.
Telecom investments threatened
According to ALTON, the surge in vandalism comes at a time when telecom operators are making historic investments in infrastructure upgrades, deploying new systems, modernizing equipment, and expanding fiber optic networks nationwide.
“Our industry has not seen this scale of investment in recent years. We are working round the clock to improve the quality of service nationwide, and we cannot afford these setbacks,” the statement noted.
- Among the items commonly stolen from telecom sites are power cables, rectifiers, fiber optic cables, batteries, diesel generators, and solar panels.
- These components, ALTON emphasized, form the backbone of the nation’s digital economy, emergency response systems, financial services, and security communications.
Black market for telecom equipment
ALTON said there is now a thriving black market for stolen telecom equipment, which is more worrying.
The group disclosed that batteries and solar panels stolen from base stations are increasingly being sold for household and office inverters, while diesel is diverted and traded illegally.
- ALTON called on the public to refrain from buying such items, warning that “if you buy stolen telecom equipment, you are not just complicit — you are part of the crime.”
- Beyond theft, the association is also grappling with a second wave of infrastructure damage, this time from ongoing road construction and civil works.
- Excavations along highways and urban roads have resulted in severe damage to underground fiber optic cables, leading to further service outages and financial losses.
Call for help
To avert a full-blown national communications crisis, ALTON is urging key security institutions — including the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), the Inspector General of Police, the Department of State Services (DSS), and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) — to step in immediately.
“We need coordinated national action by the security agencies, the government at all levels, regulators, the media, civil society, and the public. Our national security, economic stability, and digital future depend on it. The time to act is now,” Adebayo said.
ALTON also commended the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for establishing a dedicated reporting portal to combat vandalism. The platform, accessible via protect@ncc.gov.ng or by dialing 622, enables citizens to report suspicious activity related to telecom infrastructure.
What you should know
The rising attacks on telecom infrastructure come amid the ongoing implementation of the government’s CNII policy, which promises full protection for all telecom infrastructure across the country.
In August last year, President Bola Tinubu signed an official gazette designating telecom infrastructure as critical national information infrastructure and making it a criminal offence for anyone to wilfully destroy such infrastructure in the country.
- According to the Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, the gazette, ‘Designation and Protection of Critical National Information Infrastructure Order, 2024’, is a significant step that would strengthen and protect investments in the ICT sector.
- However, that was not the first time such a declaration would be made. In June 2020, the immediate past Minister of Communications, Dr. Isa Pantami, announced a similar action by former President Muhammadu Buhari.
- That pronouncement failed to have any impact as vandalism of the infrastructure has remained a daily occurrence across the country to date.
