Fibre Planner at WIOCC Nigeria Limited

To plan, design and optimise access, metro and core fibre infrastructure by maximising the use of existing assets and defining new build requirements where necessary. The role is recognised as a Level 3 technical authority for fibre network planning, responsible for producing High-Level Designs (HLDs) and Low-Level Designs (LLDs) and providing expert input into network architecture, route strategy and design governance.

The Fibre Planner ensures that all fibre designs are technically sound, commercially efficient, operationally sustainable, and accurately reflected in enterprise systems and network records. 

Reporting Line: Network Architect

Key Duties and Responsibilities

Network Planning, Architecture and Design 

• Plan and design new access, metro, and core fibre routes including ducts, spurs, PoP entries and FTTx infrastructure
• Develop and maintain High-Level Designs (HLDs) for new builds, expansions and strategic capacity initiatives
• Produce detailed, build-ready Low-Level Designs (LLDs) including route maps, splice plans, fibre allocations, BoQs and implementation specifications
• Translate business, commercial and technical requirements into scalable network designs
• Optimise route planning to maximise reuse of existing infrastructure and minimise deployment costs
• Define technical standards for fibre types, ducting, jointing methods, protection, resilience and redundancy
• Ensure designs consider long-term scalability, resilience, operational maintainability and lifecycle management

Stakeholder Engagement and Delivery Support 

• Collaborate with Project Managers to ensure designs are understood and executable
• Liaise with contractors and suppliers to ensure accurate implementation of designs
• Provide technical guidance throughout the delivery lifecycle
• Support cross-functional collaboration across Engineering, Operations, Field Services, Sales and Capacity Planning

Wayleaves, Rights of Way and Feasibility 

• Support identification and planning of wayleaves and rights of way
• Provide technical input into feasibility studies
• Identify risks related to route availability, access and regulatory constraints

Network Data Integrity and Asset Management 

• Ensure all infrastructure is accurately recorded in OSS/BSS systems (e.g. NetSuite)
• Contribute to fibre record management, auditing and documentation
• Support periodic audits of network assets and records

Technical Assurance and Risk Management 

• Perform quality assurance on designs and deployed infrastructure
• Review and assure HLDs and LLDs for compliance with standards
• Interpret OTDR/OLTS results and validate performance
• Identify and mitigate technical risks

Project and Business Support 

• Contribute to strategic planning initiatives
• Support commercial opportunities with technical feasibility input
• Drive continuous improvement in tools, templates and standards

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Telecommunications, Electrical Engineering, Network Engineering, or related field OR equivalent experience

Experience and Technical Skills

• Minimum 3 years in telecommunications with at least 2 years in fibre planning/design
• Experience in real-world fibre network deployments
• Strong understanding of ducts, fibre types, splicing, protection methods
• Knowledge of DWDM (10G/40G/100G), OTN and transmission platforms (Alcatel, ADVA, Ciena, Infinera, Tejas)
• Experience with OTDR, OLTS, optical link budgets
• Ability to interpret fibre test results
• Experience with Google Earth, QGIS, OSS/BSS platforms
• Strong analytical, communication and problem-solving skills

Attributes

• Client focused, relationship builder
• Integrity, honest with high ethical standards
• Boundless, passionate and flexible
• Personal excellence, accuracy and attention to detail
• Collaborative, achieve results through teamwork and partnerships
• Passionate, adaptable and proactive
• Strong attention to detail