Lagos warns telcos to stop indiscriminate digging of land for laying of optic fibre cable

Lagos State government has warned telecom operators in the state against illegal digging of land for laying of optic fibre cable (OFC).

It urged them to key into the on-going fibre-laying project the state is handling across the 20 local government areas and the local council development areas in the state.

Mr. Hakeem Popoola Fahm, commissioner for Science and Technology who gave the warning at the 2021 Ministerial Press Briefing in Alausa, Ikeja, to mark the second anniversary of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration, also said under the Lagos State Science Research and Innovation Council (LASRIC), the government has funded over 50 research, innovation and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) projects in the last one year.

Fahm said Lagos implemented a 3,000 km of Fibre Metro Network connection in 2020 and additional 3,000km in 2021 across the state as part of the comprehensive Smart City Programme that is designed to provide a 24-hour driven economy.

He urged the private sector, especially the telecoms operators to key into the project, plug into the ducts system, “and avoid illegal land digging.”

He warned that the Lagos State Infrastructure Maintenance and Regulatory Agency (LASIMRA) will monitor that and ensure that fibre project is also done neatly across the state. “Other companies can latch on in order to expand their network,” he said.

Fahm said the implementation of Lagos State Smart City project is to enable governance, connectivity and environmental security, stressing that the use of technology would make reporting of security incidents easy to reach, and promote access to major stakeholders in the government