MTN Nigeria says it has lost network availability in over 1,000 base stations cumulatively across the country in the last few days after damage to its fibre infrastructure.
In a statement, MTN said this has disrupted services in the South East, particularly in Onitsha in Port Harcourt, in Kano, Abuja, Kaduna and Ibadan.
MTN has had an unprecedented rise in criminal damage to its fibre optic network. It said on average, MTN suffers more than 70 fibre cuts in different locations across Nigeria every month.
Typically, 42 percent are inadvertently caused by poor road construction practices, 25 percent from wilful damage by criminal elements and 33 percent by other causes, suspected to be sabotage.
MTN appealed to members of the public to report any suspicious activity around telecommunication installations, which it said were critical national infrastructure.