The first phase of the exercise, which commenced at Toyin Street, Ikeja, and adjoining streets, revealed widespread cases of improperly deployed over-the-air fibre cables, with several cables found dangerously hanging on gates, utility poles, gutters, and bare floors.

Some of the exposed cables were observed to be live and hanging dangerously close to the ground, posing risks to public safety, environmental aesthetics, and telecom service quality.

Speaking during the exercise, Mr. Tunji Jimoh, Zonal Controller of the NCC Lagos Zonal Office, said the initiative forms part of nationwide efforts to safeguard telecommunications infrastructure and improve quality of service delivery.

Represented by Mr. Deji Roberts, Assistant Director at NCC, Jimoh expressed concern over the poor manner in which some telecom infrastructure had been deployed across parts of Lagos.

“The Commission is concerned about the manner these telecom infrastructures are deployed. Neglecting them exposes critical infrastructure to damage and can negatively impact quality of service delivery to subscribers,” he said.

He noted that the exercise is a national initiative currently piloted in Lagos State and commended LASIMRA for its collaboration and support toward sanitising the environment and ensuring proper infrastructure redeployment.

Jimoh also assured residents and subscribers that the cleanup and redeployment process would not disrupt telecom services within the affected areas.

Also speaking, Mr. Akinbiyi Akindipe, Head of Monitoring and Enforcement at LASIMRA, described the exercise as evidence of the Agency’s commitment to maintaining a “human-face” regulatory approach while ensuring compliance with infrastructure standards.

According to him, allowing telecom infrastructure to remain improperly deployed would continue to affect network service quality, public safety, and the urban environment.

“Lagos State under the leadership of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu places high priority on the protection of critical national infrastructure. However, improper deployment of such infrastructure must be addressed,” he said.

Akindipe added that LASIMRA was giving operators, through ATCON, the opportunity to urgently correct identified infractions before enforcement actions become necessary.

He stressed that the Agency was not in a hurry to impose sanctions but insisted that operators must take immediate responsibility for redeploying infrastructure according to approved standards.

On his part, Mr. Segun Okuneye, chairman of the ATCON Clean-up Committee, said the exercise demonstrates the telecommunications industry’s commitment to supporting environmental sustainability and improving the aesthetics of Lagos State.

“The telecommunications industry remains committed to supporting initiatives that create a cleaner, safer, and more organised environment for residents and businesses across Lagos State,” he said.

Okuneye disclosed that ATCON would convene an urgent industry-wide stakeholders’ meeting to develop a comprehensive roadmap for correcting legacy infrastructure deployment issues and preventing future occurrences.

He further urged Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and telecom operators to strictly comply with laid-down infrastructure deployment procedures and assured regulators of ATCON members’ readiness to collaborate fully with NCC and LASIMRA throughout the exercise.

The cleanup exercise attracted participation from several telecom infrastructure and service providers, including Galaxy Backbone Limited, MTN Nigeria, Airtel Nigeria, FibreOne, TNL, ipNX, IHS Nigeria, OneData, African Data Centres, and other industry players.

The initiative is expected to continue across different parts of Lagos State as regulators and industry stakeholders intensify efforts to improve infrastructure standards, public safety, environmental orderliness, and telecom service reliability.

The post EXCLUSIVE: NCC, LASIMRA, ATCON Begin Telecom Infrastructure Cleanup Exercise in Lagos appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

That was the consensus at the Hyperscalers Convergence Africa conference in Lagos, where industry executives said the country’s power ecosystem is evolving to meet hyperscale and AI-era demand.

The high-level session brought together senior executives, regulators, and investors from 15 countries across and beyond Africa.

During the sessions on Data Center and Energy, speakers – including Guy Zibi, Managing Partner at Xalam Analytics; Johnson Agogbua, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Kasi Cloud Data Centers; Roger Shutte, General Manager, Infrastructure & Cloud Engineering at MTN Nigeria; Snehar Shah, Chief Executive Officer of IX Africa Data Centres; Karim Amer, Head of IP Business for North, West, and Central Africa at Nokia; Tola Talabi, Chief Executive Officer of Elektron Energy; Wole Adeoti, Head Operations at Digital Realty; Gbenga Adegbiji, CEO, Geniserve and Diana, Senior Associate and Energy Policy Expert at George Etomi & Partners – shared critical insights on power, regulation, and investment in Africa’s data economy.

“Power isn’t scarce,” said Johnson Agogbua, CEO of Kasi Cloud Data Centers. “The challenge is reliable delivery and quality. We’re investing in redundancy to make sure every megawatt reaches the rack.” Kasi Cloud is currently developing a 100-megawatt hyperscale campus in Lekki, powered by a private 132-kilovolt substation and a 60-megawatt transformer.

Roger Shutte of MTN Nigeria echoed that sentiment. “Power is not a problem; it’s just a challenge,” he said.

This was reiterated by Tola Talabi, CEO of Elektron Energy, who added that Africa’s power challenge should now be viewed as an opportunity rather than a constraint.

“Power is not just a challenge – it’s an opportunity,” he said. “When developers and investors deploy capital, data centers are our most compelling customers. They provide the stable, long-term demand we need to make projects bankable.”

Talabi revealed that Elektron Energy is currently developing a $50 million Independent Power Project (IPP) in Victoria Island, designed to take much of the district off the national grid and provide reliable embedded power to multiple data centers.

“Data centers make the commercial case for investment in power stronger – they are the base load that anchors wider energy availability,” he said.

From a policy perspective, Diana, a legal practitioner and energy policy expert, said reforms under the Electricity Act 2023 could accelerate investment if states act decisively.

“State electricity markets could become critical,” she said. “They can create localized, bankable frameworks that attract investors and ensure returns.”

Despite lingering challenges, the tone across the panel was optimistic. “We’ve solved scarcity,” speakers concluded. “Now it’s about reliability, sustainability, and scale.”

Hyperscalers Convergence Africa 2025 was convened by Africa Hyperscalers and sponsored by Nokia, Open Access Data Centres (OADC), IHS Towers, Vertiv, Equinix, and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).

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