The Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria, ALTON, has issued an urgent call for government and security intervention as increasing incidents of vandalism and theft across the country now threaten to cripple Nigeria’s communications infrastructure.
In a statement released on Thursday, ALTON Chairman Gbenga Adebayo warned that continued attacks on telecom sites could lead to a catastrophic nationwide network collapse.
According to him, since May 2025, telecom cell sites in over a dozen states—including Rivers, Ogun, Osun, Imo, Kogi, Ekiti, Lagos, and the Federal Capital Territory—have suffered repeated attacks, resulting in prolonged outages and severe network congestion that have affected millions of Nigerians.
“Since the Federal Government’s decisive interventions earlier this year to support industry sustainability, our members have made unprecedented investments in network optimisation and capacity upgrades,” Adebayo noted. “We are working tirelessly to improve service quality nationwide, but these acts of sabotage are setting us back.”
ALTON disclosed that operators are currently engaged in one of the sector’s most ambitious infrastructure expansion programmes, including upgrading transmission equipment, power systems, and laying thousands of kilometres of fibre-optic cables. Unfortunately, this progress is being severely undermined by coordinated theft and vandalism.
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Items being targeted include power cables, rectifiers, fibre optic lines, diesel generators, batteries, and solar panels—essential components that underpin not just telecom services but also banking, emergency response, healthcare, education, and national security systems.
States worst affected by these attacks include Delta, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Ondo, Edo, Kaduna, Niger, Kwara, and Abuja, among others. ALTON also raised concern over a growing black market for stolen telecom equipment, with batteries reportedly repurposed for inverters, and solar panels sold for home use.
The association stressed that telecom infrastructure has been designated as Critical National Infrastructure under Federal Government Gazette No. 133, Volume 108, dated 17th March 2021. Vandalism, sabotage, or illegal possession of such equipment is therefore a serious criminal offence with severe legal consequences.
Adding to the challenge are frequent fibre cuts resulting from uncoordinated civil works and road construction, which cause massive service disruptions and financial losses.
ALTON called on the Office of the National Security Adviser, the Inspector General of Police, the DSS, and the NSCDC to immediately deploy nationwide security protocols to protect telecom installations.
The association also commended the Nigerian Communications Commission for launching a reporting portal via protect@ncc.gov.ng and 622 to allow the public report suspicious activity.
“This is a desperate and urgent moment. The industry cannot handle this crisis alone,” ALTON concluded. “We need coordinated national action. Our economic stability, national security, and digital future depend on it.”
NAN
