{"id":6286,"date":"2026-04-29T16:20:35","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T15:20:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/techstream.africa\/?p=6286"},"modified":"2026-04-29T16:20:35","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T15:20:35","slug":"nigerias-telecom-industry-revives-dig-once-push-to-reduce-fibre-cuts-and-improve-network-quality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/techstream.africa\/?p=6286","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria\u2019s Telecom Industry Revives \u201cDig-Once\u201d Push to Reduce Fibre Cuts and Improve Network Quality."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"859\" height=\"461\" data-id=\"6331\" src=\"https:\/\/techstream.africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1000018912-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6331\" srcset=\"https:\/\/techstream.africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1000018912-1.jpg 859w, https:\/\/techstream.africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1000018912-1-300x161.jpg 300w, https:\/\/techstream.africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1000018912-1-768x412.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 859px) 100vw, 859px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><br><br><br>Nigeria\u2019s telecom sector is once again confronting a familiar but costly problem: frequent fibre cuts that disrupt internet and voice services across the country. In response, industry stakeholders are advocating for a \u201cDig-Once\u201d policy approach, aimed at reducing repeated damage to fibre infrastructure during construction and roadworks.<br><br>The issue of fibre cuts has persisted for years and is often linked to road construction, utility expansion, and poorly coordinated civil works. In many cases, multiple infrastructure projects dig up the same corridors at different times, increasing the risk of accidental damage to underground fibre cables. This leads to service outages, increased maintenance costs, and slower network performance for end users.<br><br>The \u201cDig-Once\u201d proposal seeks to address this by encouraging coordinated trenching\u2014where different utilities such as telecoms, power, and water companies share infrastructure corridors or schedules when carrying out excavation work. Nigerian telecom stakeholders have been pushing for stronger implementation of this approach, arguing that better coordination between government agencies, contractors, and operators could significantly reduce avoidable fibre disruptions.<br><br>If adopted effectively, the policy could have wide-reaching effects. For consumers, it would mean fewer network outages and more stable internet connectivity, which is increasingly critical for work, banking, education, and digital services. For telecom operators, it could reduce repair costs and improve service reliability, while also lowering the operational burden of repeatedly fixing damaged infrastructure.<br><br>More broadly, the push highlights a structural challenge in Nigeria\u2019s digital infrastructure development: coordination. While investment in fibre networks has expanded over the years, the absence of strict infrastructure-sharing rules and enforcement mechanisms continues to create inefficiencies. The \u201cDig-Once\u201d model, if properly enforced, would not just be a technical fix but a governance shift in how infrastructure projects are planned and executed.<br><br>Ultimately, the success of this initiative will depend on collaboration between regulators, state governments, and private sector operators. The key question now is whether Nigeria can move from policy discussions to consistent enforcement\u2014and whether coordinated infrastructure planning can finally reduce the recurring problem of fibre cuts that slow down its digital economy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nigeria\u2019s telecom sector is once again confronting a familiar but costly problem: frequent fibre cuts that disrupt internet and voice services across the country. In response, industry stakeholders are advocating for a \u201cDig-Once\u201d policy approach, aimed at reducing repeated damage to fibre infrastructure during construction and roadworks. The issue of fibre cuts has persisted for&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techstream.africa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techstream.africa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/techstream.africa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techstream.africa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techstream.africa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6286"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/techstream.africa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6332,"href":"https:\/\/techstream.africa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6286\/revisions\/6332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/techstream.africa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techstream.africa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techstream.africa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}