Ghana is pursuing an ambitious National AI Strategy to drive economic growth across healthcare, agriculture, education, and public services. However, the country faces a critical infrastructure challenge: fibre optic cables are being cut at an alarming rate—over 8,000 times annually—threatening the connectivity AI systems depend on.
Between 2021 and 2025, telecommunications operators spent more than US$69 million repairing damaged fibre, with 2026 already on track to exceed 8,000 cuts. The primary cause is uncoordinated road construction and excavation work that damages buried and aerial fibre networks.
The impact extends beyond internet outages:
- Business operations and AI-powered services are disrupted
- Mobile money and payment systems go offline
- Government digital platforms become inaccessible
- Rural healthcare facilities struggle to deploy AI tools due to unstable connectivitycitinewsroom+1
Proposed solutions include:
- Dig Once Policy: Incorporate empty fibre ducts into new road designs and engage network operators before excavation begins
- AI-driven monitoring: MTN is deploying fibre cut sensing technology that predicts disruptions before they occur, reducing fault diagnosis from six hours to minutes
- Coordinated planning: Integrate digital infrastructure into all major construction projects
The World Bank emphasizes that Ghana should focus on building foundational infrastructure – reliable power, connectivity, and skills—before attempting to develop frontier AI systems. Without resilient networks, AI ambitions will remain out of reach.