By Epiphanus Obia
Nigeria has begun a comprehensive review of its 26-year-old telecommunications policy, as regulators seek to address worsening network disruptions, rising data demand, online fraud, and emerging technologies reshaping the country’s digital economy.
The review, announced by the Nigerian Communications Commission at a policy workshop in Lagos, proposes 15 major reforms covering broadband infrastructure, 5G deployment, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, satellite broadband, digital inclusion, and consumer protection.
According to the NCC, the proposed National Telecommunications Policy 2026 is expected to replace the current framework introduced in 2000, which regulators say no longer reflects the realities of Nigeria’s fast-evolving digital ecosystem.
Speaking at the workshop, NCC Executive Vice Chairman, Aminu Maida, said the telecommunications sector has moved far beyond the assumptions that shaped the original policy.
“When the National Telecommunications Policy 2000 was introduced, Nigeria’s telecommunications sector was at a very different stage of development,” Maida said. “Telecommunications is no longer just one sector within the economy; it is productivity infrastructure for the entire economy.”
The review comes amid growing pressure on telecom infrastructure nationwide. Nigeria recorded 19,384 fibre-optic cable cuts in 2025, while 5,934 fibre cuts were reported in the first quarter of 2026 alone, contributing to frequent service outages and unstable connectivity across the country.
The NCC also disclosed that only about 25 per cent of planned telecom site upgrades for 2026 have been completed, leaving existing 4G infrastructure overstretched as Nigerians consumed more than four billion gigabytes of data in the first quarter of the year.
Under the proposed reforms, the NCC plans to strengthen competition rules, improve infrastructure sharing and national roaming, simplify Right of Way approvals, harmonise telecom levies, and improve spectrum efficiency for 5G and future technologies.
The framework also seeks stronger legal protection for telecom infrastructure designated as Critical National Information Infrastructure, a move regulators believe could reduce network blackouts caused by vandalism and fibre cuts.
Consumer protection and online safety also feature prominently in the proposed policy. Regulators said the revised framework would introduce stronger measures around cybersecurity, digital trust, online fraud prevention, and harmful digital platforms.
The NCC said the policy would also support emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, cloud infrastructure, and satellite broadband, while encouraging local telecom manufacturing and the establishment of a Digital Innovation Fund for startups and research.
Maida said the review aligns with Nigeria’s broader digital economy ambitions and could generate major economic benefits.
Citing estimates by the GSMA, he said deeper digitalisation across sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, transport, trade, and government could add two percentage points to Nigeria’s GDP by 2028, create nearly two million jobs, and generate about ₦1.6 trillion in additional tax revenue.
Former NCC Executive Vice Chairman and Chairman of MTN Nigeria, Ernest Ndukwe, said the liberalisation reforms introduced under former President Olusegun Obasanjo transformed Nigeria’s telecom sector from one of the least connected markets globally into Africa’s largest telecom market.
According to Ndukwe, Nigeria had fewer than 200,000 connected telephone lines before the reforms despite a population of over 120 million people at the time.
“The policy helped build the market we have today, but the market has outgrown the assumptions of that period,” he said.
Also speaking at the event, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Policy and Coordination, Hadiza Bala Usman, said the policy review should serve as a broader national development framework rather than a purely technical exercise.
She called for stronger collaboration among regulators, operators, investors, and state governments to address issues including taxation, infrastructure deployment, cybersecurity, and digital inclusion.
The revised policy is expected to include implementation timelines, funding structures, performance indicators, and reporting mechanisms, with consultations continuing before the framework is finalised later this year.