Policy Compliance Standards for Underground Fiber Cable Deployment and Post-Deployment Protection

Abstract

The general utilization of telecommunication services and the value users place on communication networks has grown exponentially in the past few decades. The dependence on telecommunication networks has become an essential factor in how people survive during a national or global crisis. Telecommunication network infrastructures such as cables, satellites, and cellular towers play an indispensable role in maintaining society’s stability worldwide when there is a major crisis. Therefore, the protection of these telecommunication assets is critical. However, there have not been any measures to protect these vital infrastructures. This colossal gap prompted the authors to write this paper. The paper is a policy framework designed as a regulatory compliance document to guide the stakeholders in ensuring the underground fiber cable is fully protected. Additionally, the paper gave a direction on how the monitoring agencies can enact laws to make the active fiber cable a critical national infrastructure. There have been a series of underground fiber cable cuts in Ghana and other low-income countries. However, the available policies are not stringent enough to prevent individuals and contractors from activities that may lead to the destruction of underground cables. Based on the lapses identified in the regulatory standards, we proposed a comprehensive policy and regulatory measures to be implemented by the mobile network operators (MNOs) and the state regulatory institutions. This paper touched on regulatory measures to protect the underground fiber cables before, during and deployment. The post-deployment management of the underground fiber cable is critical in ensuring high network performance, reliability and availablibity. The policy plan proposed in this paper has been divided into various sections to make it more convenient for reading and referencing. The paper’s novelty is the scope of work done by designing and formulating policies as guiding measures to control and mitigate the frequent fiber cable cuts. Keywords Policy Document, Critical National Infrastructure, Underground Fiber Cable cut, Policy Compliance, Policy Framework