How One Telco Retains Clients Linked Alongside Third Mainland

On a typical weekday morning, 1000’s of commuters crawl all through Lagos’ Third Mainland Bridge, Nigeria’s busiest and longest bridge, stretching 11.8 kilometers all through the Lagos Lagoon. Beneath the noise of engines and the thrill of metropolis life lies a quiet nevertheless extremely efficient group—one which retains phone calls clear, internet speeds safe, and cell firms uninterrupted even in web site guests gridlocks. On the coronary coronary heart of it’s a refined web of telecom engineering designed to connect 1000’s and 1000’s in motion.

“We’ve some web sites which could be providing safety on the bridge,” Yahaya Ibrahim, Chief Technical Officer of MTN Nigeria, knowledgeable TechCabal. “Nonetheless because of the heavy web site guests and the dimensions of the bridge, we deployed a specific decision in July 2025—a loyal group designed merely to cowl the bridge.”

This “specific decision” features a sequence of small nevertheless extremely efficient distributed antenna applications (DAS) mounted all through key intervals alongside the Third Mainland Bridge. These antennas, built-in into the larger MTN group, are strategically positioned on each facet of the bridge and throughout the median the place utility ducts run. Hidden inside these ducts are electrical strains and fibre optic cables—important parts that protect the bridge digitally alive.

Connecting a metropolis on the switch

The Third Mainland Bridge is extensively recognised as a result of the busiest roadway in Nigeria. Consistent with newest web site guests surveys and authorities information, between 117,000 and 133,000 autos journey all through the bridge daily. This immense web site guests amount underscores the bridge’s strategic significance as a hyperlink between Lagos Mainland and Lagos Island, serving a gradual stream of commuters, primarily in delicate autos, headed to work, markets, or enterprise districts. Given this stage of utilization, even minor maintenance or short-term closures on the bridge might trigger important disruptions to city’s web site guests flow into and basic mobility.

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Sustaining reliable telecom safety on such a important route presents distinctive engineering challenges. In most metropolis areas, fibre optic cables are put in underground. Nonetheless, that technique isn’t smart on long-span bridges similar to the Third Mainland Bridge. Boring beneath big water our our bodies simply isn’t solely technically superior however as well as terribly expensive. Moreover, the bridge’s dense concrete development limits home for underground routing.

To beat these challenges, telecom engineers flip to specialised above-ground arrange strategies. On the Third Mainland Bridge, fibre optic cables are generally laid by way of defending conduits—resembling fiberglass or high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipes—mounted securely alongside the bridge’s underside or hooked as much as its facet beams. Fiberglass is usually hottest ensuing from its resistance to corrosion, capability to resist temperature fluctuations, and power in harsh marine environments, making it considerably suited to coastal infrastructure like this.

“Correct in the middle of the bridge, you’ll uncover all {{the electrical}} applications and fibre cables working by way of the utility ducts,” outlined Ibrahim.“These cables current power to the antennas and transmit information for the purchasers on the switch.”

To accommodate the pure actions of the bridge, introduced on by heat development, web site guests vibrations, and environmental parts, engineers arrange versatile joints and go away additional slack inside the cables. This ensures that even as a result of the development shifts barely over time, the delicate glass fibres contained within the cable keep intact.

Sustaining a seamless signal

The success of this superior setup is apparent in daily experience. As drivers switch all through the bridge or alongside expressways in Lagos, their cell telephones perform regular “handovers”—shifting from one cell tower to a unique with out shedding connection. The strategy is seamless, nevertheless it certainly requires cautious group optimisation and frequent maintenance.

“Your phone is linked to a web site, and as you progress away, its signal weakens. The phone palms over to a model new web site as you get nearer to it,” Ibrahim talked about. “Sometimes, ensuing from terrain, bushes, or buildings, there might probably be a small safety gap. Nonetheless sometimes, in a spot like Lagos, you gained’t drive 5 or ten minutes with out safety.”

These gaps, generally called “safety holes”, can occur when the geographical conditions or precise property limitations forestall the very best placement of towers. Sometimes, a really perfect location for a tower is prone to be unavailable ensuing from landlord disputes or metropolis constraints. In several cases, obstacles like tall buildings and even bushes can block signal paths.

Water, too, performs a process. “Water has always refracted alerts. That’s elementary physics,” Ibrahim added. “Nonetheless with the right group optimisation, we are going to minimise these outcomes.”

Fibre deployment: Precision beneath pressure

Placing in fibre all through infrastructure similar to the Third Mainland Bridge is a feat of logistics, engineering, and cooperation. Technicians begin with detailed surveys, mapping out essentially the most safe and least intrusive paths for the cable. They coordinate with freeway and bridge authorities, protected permits, and work inside slender dwelling home windows to avoid disrupting web site guests.

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As quickly as on-site, crews mount assist brackets to the bridge development, arrange defending conduits, and punctiliously thread fibre cables by way of them. At important components, resembling development joints, they arrange versatile loops and splice enclosures, all weather-sealed to cease hurt. Every half is examined for signal integrity sooner than the system goes keep.

The end result’s a resilient, high-speed communication channel capable of supporting calls, streaming, navigation, and emergency communications for 1000’s and 1000’s of people traversing city’s arteries.

The value of staying linked

Sustaining this group is a collaborative effort. Consistent with Ibrahim, MTN works with a lot of companions: one handles diesel fueling for the towers alongside the bridge and bodily infrastructure maintenance; one different oversees the full of life radio and transmission gear; and a third manages the fibre group.

“We moreover do group optimisation every now and then to verify optimum effectivity,” he talked about. Whereas he didn’t disclose exact figures, the value of sustaining a single telecom tower comprises not merely power and gasoline, however as well as technical checks, repairs, and system upgrades, multiplied all through a group of over 20,000 web sites nationwide.

Engineering for the long term

In a fast-growing megacity like Lagos, the place inhabitants density and digital demand are every skyrocketing, the pressure on telecom infrastructure is relentless. However, by innovating with bridge-mounted fibre conduits, smart antenna placement, and regular optimization, operators like MTN are setting up a communications backbone which will assist Nigeria’s ambitions for a digitally linked future.

As Ibrahim put it, “We always try to find choices to verify our prospects have 100% connectivity. That’s the aim.”

Beneath the positioning guests jams and previous the attain of sight, the invisible infrastructure holding Nigeria linked is a testament to the flexibility of engineering—quiet, superior, and completely indispensable.

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