Road construction under the government’s Big Push programme accounts for about half of Ghana’s road-related fibre cuts each month, Communications Minister Samuel Nartey George said on 7 September.
Speaking at the Government Accountability Series, George said 4,289 fibre cuts were recorded in the first half of 2026. Industry projections cited in his speech put the full-year total at 8,578.
He said the largest cause is uncoordinated excavation on road projects, especially Big Push works, where contractors dig without approved drawings and without coordinating with telecommunications operators first.
Fibre cables carry internet and other traffic between parts of the network. Cutting them can interrupt service until operators reroute traffic or repair the line.
George gave recent examples. He said one incident on the Winneba-Mankessim corridor knocked out service for more than 17 hours across the middle belt. The Ho-Ziope corridor, he said, lost more than 19 hours of connectivity. A cut on the Hwediem-Goaso corridor lasted more than nine hours and degraded service across Brong Ahafo, the North and Western North.
He put the average repair cost at about US$2,045 per cut and said operators spent more than US$20 million on repairs in 2025. In coverage of the same briefing he was quoted saying that money could otherwise have gone into building new sites.
George said his ministry and the Ministry of Roads have sent a joint cabinet memo on a Dig Once policy, which would require fibre ducts to be built into new roads. He said he expected cabinet to consider it at its next sitting. The National Communications Authority, he added, is finalising a rule that would require road agencies and contractors to contact operators before excavation begins.