Assessment of the Factors Affecting the National ICT Broadband Backbone (NICTBB) Systems Restoration Time

Abstract

This study investigates the factors affecting the prolonged system restoration time when national ICT broadband backbone (NICTBB) services are affected by breakdown incidents. NICTBB is the government-owned backbone infrastructure constructed nationally by the Republic of Tanzania to increase the usage of ICT for equitable and sustainable socio-economic development and accelerate poverty reduction. This study utilised a mixture of exploratory and descriptive study approaches. The sample size determination was executed using purposing and simple random sampling, thus involving 289 respondents. The data reliability test was undertaken. It was followed by factor analysis, analysis of variances (ANOVA), linear regression analysis, and confirmed with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using IBM SPSS Amos 28 to test the model fitness. The study revealed that the maintenance centres are few and sparsely located, and the distance from maintenance centres increases travelling time, resulting in increased time to restore services. Some factors affecting the restoration time include initial infrastructure design not trenching to locate points of cut, absence of dedicated vehicles standby for NICTBB restoration, retirements of experienced and well-trained staff leaving behind untrained personnel for maintenance activities, and insufficient funds for maintenance. Lastly, power equipment is not looked upon as sometimes the services are down due to commercial power cuts, tripped circuit breakers, and batteries not being charged. Some recommendations include having proper maintenance processes, having enough restoration resources at all maintenance centres, and maintaining proper communication.