Telecom
Bletchley Declaration: UK, US, Nigeria Others Unite to Accelerate Development of AI
Leading AI nations, convened for the first time by the UK and including the United States, Nigeria and China, along with the European Union, have today reached a world-first agreement at Bletchley Park establishing a shared understanding of the opportunities and risks posed by frontier AI and the need for governments to work together to meet the most significant challenges.
The Bletchley Declaration on AI safety sees 28 countries from across the globe including in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, as well as the EU, agreeing to the urgent need to understand and collectively manage potential risks through a new joint global effort to ensure AI is developed and deployed in a safe, responsible way for the benefit of the global community.
Countries endorsing the Declaration also include Brazil, France, India, Ireland, Japan, Kenya, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates.
The Declaration fulfils key summit objectives in establishing shared agreement and responsibility on the risks, opportunities and a forward process for international collaboration on frontier AI safety and research, particularly through greater scientific collaboration. Talks today, with leading frontier AI companies and experts from academia and civil society, will see further discussions on understanding frontier AI risks and improving frontier AI safety.
Countries agreed substantial risks may arise from potential intentional misuse or unintended issues of control of frontier AI, with particular concern caused by cybersecurity, biotechnology and misinformation risks. The Declaration sets out agreement that there is “potential for serious, even catastrophic, harm, either deliberate or unintentional, stemming from the most significant capabilities of these AI models.” Countries also noted the risks beyond frontier AI, including bias and privacy.
Recognising the need to deepen the understanding of risks and capabilities that are not fully understood, attendees have also agreed to work together to support a network of scientific research on Frontier AI safety. This builds on the UK Prime Minister’s announcement last week for the UK to establish the world’s first AI Safety Institute and complements existing international efforts including at the G7, OECD, Council of Europe, United Nations and the Global Partnership on AI. This will ensure the best available scientific research can be used to create an evidence base for managing the risks whilst unlocking the benefits of the technology, including through the UK’s AI Safety Institute which will look at the range of risks posed by AI.
The Declaration details that the risks are “best addressed through international cooperation”. As part of agreeing a forward process for international collaboration on frontier AI safety, The Republic of Korea has agreed to co-host a mini virtual summit on AI in the next six months. France will then host the next in-person Summit in a year from now. Further details on these events will be confirmed in due course.
This ensures an enduring legacy from the Summit and continued international action to tackle AI risks, including informing national and international risk-based policies across these countries.
The Declaration, building upon last week’s announcement of the UK’s emerging processes for AI safety, also acknowledges that those developing these unusually powerful and potentially dangerous frontier AI capabilities have a particular responsibility for ensuring the safety of these systems, including by implementing systems to test them and other appropriate measures.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “This is a landmark achievement that sees the world’s greatest AI powers agree on the urgency behind understanding the risks of AI – helping ensure the long-term future of our children and grandchildren.
“Under the UK’s leadership, more than twenty five countries at the AI Safety Summit have stated a shared responsibility to address AI risks and take forward vital international collaboration on frontier AI safety and research.
“The UK is once again leading the world at the forefront of this new technological frontier by kickstarting this conversation, which will see us work together to make AI safe and realise all its benefits for generations to come.”
Michelle Donelan, Technology Secretary said: “Today’s agreement, signed by attendees from across the globe, offers an important first step as we begin two days of vitally important discussions here at Bletchley Park.
“We have always said that no single country can face down the challenges and risks posed by AI alone, and today’s landmark Declaration marks the start of a new global effort to build public trust by ensuring the technology’s safe development.
“Bletchley Park marks the start of a long road ahead, and the Summit will kickstart an enduring process to ensure every nation and every citizen can realise the boundless benefits of AI”.
Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly, said: “AI knows no borders, and its impact on the world will only deepen.
“The UK is proud to have kickstarted the global discussion at Bletchley Park on how we ensure the transformational power of AI is used as a force for good by and for all of us.”
A spokesperson for the French Presidency said: “The French authorities welcome the international and cooperative work cycle launched by the AI Satefy Summit to analyse, understand and respond to the risks that certain Frontier AI models could cause. France is ready to participate in this long-term collective effort and will be happy to host the next in person Summit”.
A spokesperson for the Republic of Korea Government said: “Minister Lee is delighted that Korea will be the co-hosts of the mini virtual summit. Korea is a world leader in technologies like AI and recognises the importance of multilateral cooperation to ensure AI technologies are designed, used and governed in safe ways.”
To mark the opening of the Summit, His Majesty The King delivered a virtual address, via video to the AI Safety Summit this morning as proceedings got underway. His Majesty pointed to AI being one of the ‘greatest technological leaps in the history of human endeavour’ and hailed the technology’s enormous potential to transform the lives of citizens across the world through better treatments for conditions like cancer and heart disease.
The King also spoke of the ‘clear imperative to ensure that this rapidly evolving technology remains safe and secure’ and the need for ‘international coordination and collaboration’. The King’s address signed-off with thanks for the vital role attendees will play over the next two days, laying the foundations for a ‘lasting consensus’ on AI safety to cement its place as a force for good.
Bosun Tijani, Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Federal Republic of Nigeria said: “Artificial Intelligence offers an unprecedented opportunity to appropriate knowledge more quickly and seamlessly in addressing some of our pressing socio-economic challenges. Our duty as policymakers is to ensure that our nation can participate and mainstream value creation from AI.
“As we embark on this journey to accelerating our investment in the use of AI for good, it is essential to collaborate with long-standing allies to deepen our capacity and knowledge.
At least 43 million lines were disconnected from networks service providers for non compliance with the National Identification Number (NIN) SIM linkage policy of the federal government, report has revealed.
The number of teleocm subscriber in the country fell by 43.7 million subscribers from 216,974,742 in April 2024 to 172,948,309.
This effectively reduced teledensity from 100.09 per cent to 79.78 per cent.
Teledensity is calculated based on Nigerian Population Commission’s projected population figure of 216 million, according to the NCC.
A breakdown showed that Airtel subscribers dropped from 62,933,351 in April 2024 to 58,586,914 in April 2025.
Globacom witnessed a drop from 62,055,248 in April 2024 to 20,607,726 in April 2025.
The amount of customers lost by Globacom was 20,607,726 making it the biggest loser.
9Mobile subscribers dropped to 2,964,445 in April 2025 from 8,956,568 subscribers in April 2024.
However, MTN Nigeria Communications was the only teleocm company that survived the shock.
MTN saw a rise in its subscribers from 82,716,236 in April 2025 to 90,508,170 in April 2025.
Analysis showed that the 43.7 million subscribers’ loss was a result of the disconnection of unregistered lines.
“The removal of Subscriber Identification Modules (SIMs) that are not linked to verifiable National Identification Numbers (NINs) and the rectification of a major discrepancy by a Mobile Network Operator explain the significant drop in Nigeria’s telecoms subscriber base,” the regulator explained in the report.
In 2022, the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy announced the NIN-SIM linkage policy was for national security and accuracy of the national SIM ownership database.
Subscribers whose lines were not associated with a verified NIN were advised to complete NIN verification to reactivate their lines.
After multiple deadlines for compliance, the NCC set a final deadline of September 14, 2024, for Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to complete the linkage process.
IHS Nigeria, a subsidiary of the IHS Towers group, announced on Thursday it has formed a strategic partnership with the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to increase protection of critical telecoms infrastructure across Nigeria.
Under an MoU signed by both organizations, IHS Nigeria and the NSCDC plan to develop and implement strategies aimed at safeguarding IHS Nigeria’s assets and other telecoms infrastructure from theft and sabotage.
IHS Nigeria owns and operates over 16,000 towers in Nigeria and has deployed over 15,000km of fibre.
The NSCDC will aim to support IHS Nigeria for areas such as site surveillance, emergency responses and incident reporting.
That includes assisting in matters related to tower decommissioning as well as investigating, apprehending and prosecuting alleged site violators.
Mohamad Darwish, CEO, IHS Nigeria, said the collaboration with NSCDC was a key step to enhancing the resilience, reliability and availability of telecoms connectivity in Nigeria.
“By working closely with the NSCDC, which enforces the law that designates telecommunication towers as critical national information infrastructure, we aim to create a safer and more secure environment for our operations, including our infrastructure, and more importantly, ensure better quality of service for all users in Nigeria,” he said in a statement.
Vandalism and theft of fibre cables, backup batteries and other telecoms infrastructure has been a growing problem in Nigeria – so much so that Nigerian president Bola Tinubu declared telecoms infrastructure to be Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII) via an executive order last year.
Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has issued a fresh directive mandating telecom operators to compensate subscribers when major service outages last longer than 24 hours.
The commission also mandated telecom licensees in Nigeria to inform consumers of major service outages on their networks through media channels, stating the cause(s) of the service interruption, and the area(s) affected by the service interruption/outage, as well as the time that would be taken to restore service.
Consumers must also be informed one week in advance where operators have planned service outages.
This development, contained in the “Directive on Reportage of Major Network Outages by Mobile Network Operators (MNOs),” is part of the Commission’s drive to ensure timely resolution of outages, enhance quality of experience for telecom consumers, and keep consumers informed.
According to the Directive, Mobile Network Operators, Internet Service Providers and other operators that provide last mile services will also provide proportional compensation, including extension of validity, as may be applicable and in line with the provisions of the Consumer Code of Practice Regulations, where any major network outage continues for more than 24 hours.
It identifies three types of major outages to include: Any network operational condition such as fibre cut due to construction/access issues/theft & vandalism and force majeure that impacts five per cent or more of the affected operator’s subscriber base or five or more Local Government Areas (LGAs); having an occasion of unplanned outage of, or complete isolation of network resources in 100 or more sites or five per cent of the total number of sites (whichever is less) or 1 cluster that lasts for 30 minutes or more; and lastly, any form of outage that can degrade network quality in the top 10 states based on traffic volume as specified by the Commission from time to time.
In furtherance of this, the Commission has further directed that all Major Outages are to be reported by operators through the Commision’s Major Outage Reporting Portal, which is accessible to the public through the Commission’s website, www.ncc.gov.ng. The portal additionally discloses the identity of the culprit responsible for the disruption.
Commenting on the Directive and the Major Outage Reporting Portal, the Director, Technical Standards and Network Integrity, Engr. Edoyemi Ogor stated that, “The Commission has trialed the reporting process and portal with operators for some months now before issuing the directive.
“By providing consumers and stakeholders in the telecommunications industry with timely and transparent information on network outages, we are entrenching a culture of accountability and transparency. This approach also ensures that culprits are held responsible for sabotage to telecommunications infrastructure.
“This also aligns with our broader commitment to the effective implementation of the Executive Order signed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, which designates telecommunications infrastructure as Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII). It reinforces the need to safeguard these assets, given their centrality to national security, economic stability, and the everyday lives of Nigerians,” Engr Edoyemi Ogor said.
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