IHS Towers , Africas largest tower company, and WIOCC, a global telecom infrastructure provider, are in talks with the Lagos State Government to complete its 6,000km fiber duct project. The companies will also extend the project to 36,000km, said Olatunbosun Alake, the Lagos State Commissioner for Science and Technology.
The initial fiber duct project, which kicked off in 2020, was delayed due to contractual disputes between Lagos State and the contractor, Western Telecoms and Engineering Services Limited.
Alake declined to comment on the specifics of the disagreement.
The department handling the project is not under my ministry, but there are plans to relocate them to the Ministry of Science and Technology, he said.
Western Telecoms had previously laid 2,700km of fiber duct and cables between 2020 and 2022. The company secured connectivity deals with major telecom operators, including MTN Nigeria, Airtel, Liquid Telecom, MainOne, Dolphin Telecoms, Swift, and Spectranet. Over 1,000 MTN and Airtel base station sites were successfully connected to the fiber infrastructure.
