The Gambian government has adopted the National Fiber Protection Policy to ensure the security and protection of fiber optic telecommunication cables and to minimize the level of damage and risk to such infrastructure.
The policy reportedly defines the roles, responsibilities and obligations of all participants in the fiber optic infrastructure ecosystem and sets out the conditions for violations and their consequences, with fines starting at 500,000 GMD ($8,000) for guilty individuals to cover repair costs. Over the past decade, theft and vandalism of fiber optic cable segments has regularly led to service disruptions in The Gambia - a problem that has recently reportedly made a comeback. The impact of fiber optic network failures can be particularly severe because The Gambia relies heavily on its single submarine international fiber link connecting the African Coast to Europe (ACE) system, and the government is currently studying the possibility of connecting a second major cable.
