In the digital age, our daily lives and activities are focused on mobile connectivity. From staying connected with family and friends through phone conversations, instant messaging, and communicating business decisions through emails and tools like Skype, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams, there is a constant need for communication. What happens when there is a network downtime and these activities stop? Frustration, impatience, and anxiety are some emotional responses that come to mind.
Considering the importance of connectivity, one can only begin to imagine the disruptions caused by the network outage in the Nigerian states on Tuesday October 20, 2020. Coincidentally, the outage occurred when staying connected was especially crucial to the in light of the End Sars protests. .
Various reasons are responsible for network outages. Sometimes power outages, serious hardware failures, failed firmware and software updates or patches, or incompatibility between firmware and hardware devices are to blame. At other times, like this one, network downtimes are due to link failures due to fiber cable outages. Following recent network downtime, the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has pointed out the reason for the disruption to a series of fiber outages that occurred on major routes, leading to congestion and poor network services. As a result, member operators are experiencing downtime on their networks.
ALTON is a corporate entity, registered under the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as an Incorporated Trustee with the Nigerian Communications Commission as the official industry body for all telecommunications and subsidiary service providers in Nigeria. The 20-year-old body promotes and supports legislation that will improve the quality of telecommunications practice and services in Nigeria and protect the collective interests of all telecommunications operators.
Since its inception, ALTON has played a developmental role in the telecommunications industry. It has continued to deliver critical interventions on behalf of its members on issues such as multiple tax and regulatory challenges, rates and rate determination, market competition, unfavorable government policies, and network operation challenges.
To further explain the cause of network downtime and elucidate the measures taken to ensure normality, the President of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo, issued a statement highlighting the cause of the network outage, as well as the active steps. taken by the agency and telecommunications companies to solve the problem.
Although the curfew imposed in several Nigerian states hampered the movement of engineers to address the problem, ALTON and its member operators ensure that subscribers stay connected until network problems are fixed.
Gbenga Adebayo, in its statement, revealed that “engineers are working around the clock to access the sites, while in the meantime there are plans to optimize the coverage of other central sites, implement mobile sites and redirect traffic in links from fiber as a stopgap solution. to the hardest hit locations. ”He also appealed to those who have barricaded all states to grant access to site engineers to gain access to affected locations to restore services.
Adebayo Gbenga has extensive experience in the telecommunications industry. He currently serves as Group President and CEO of Communication Network Support Services Limited, whose operations encompass telecommunications network maintenance, call and contact center service, media, broadcasting; Farming; Hotels and hospitality services, medical and hospital services. He is also the president and founder of Royal FM 95.1Mhz, the first private FM radio station in Ilorin, North Central Nigeria.
With the efforts of ALTON and its member operators to restore normalcy and slowly but steadily improving connectivity, subscribers can be assured that outages caused by network outage are nearing the end.
Alton and this their network issue.