By Martin Ekpeke
Nigeria’s ambition to expand digital connectivity is facing a triple challenge of expensive long-term capital, unreliable power and infrastructure bottlenecks, even as data consumption and demand for digital services surge.
That was the central warning from the Nigeria Digital Connectivity Investment Forum 2026, where government, regulators, investors and technology companies agreed a series of time-bound measures to unlock investment in the country’s digital infrastructure.
In a communique issued at the end of the forum, convened by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Swedfund and Ookla in Abuja last week, the stakeholders found that Nigeria’s connectivity challenge has moved beyond simply extending network coverage.
The communiques contains that Nigeria consumed about 1.6 million terabytes of data in July 2026, almost 47 per cent more than a year earlier, while subscriptions are projected to rise from about 195 million towards 350 million over the next 10 to 15 years.
Yet mobile broadband coverage of about 90 per cent masks major gaps in actual usage. Smartphone ownership is only 27 per cent and broadband penetration stands at 57.4 per cent, below the national 70 per cent target.
According to the stakeholders, power, middle-mile fibre, Right of Way, financing, device affordability and digital skills as the obstacles that must now be tackled together.
Participants also called on the Federal Government to accelerate Project BRIDGE, the planned 90,000-kilometre national fibre backbone, while developing measures to improve the availability and reliability of power for telecommunications infrastructure.
Digital infrastructure typically has a 20–30-year asset life, yet much of the available financing remains short-term. The forum therefore urged investors and development finance institutions to provide long-tenor naira capital, while using blended finance and credit enhancement to make strategically important but commercially weak projects investable.
Power was singled out as a particularly serious constraint. Participants called for a dedicated telecommunications power financing framework within 18–24 months and recommended that energy provision for digital infrastructure be standardised and brought within critical national information infrastructure protection.
States, meanwhile, were urged to reduce and harmonise Right of Way and site-permit charges and shorten approval timelines. The forum cited evidence from a 12-state pilot of the Nigeria Digital Connectivity Index showing fibre growth of between 22 per cent and 95 per cent in states undertaking Right of Way reforms.
The NCC itself faces a delivery test. Participants want the regulator to publish the first national Nigeria Digital Connectivity Index, complete broadband mapping, introduce open-access and wholesale regulation, publish a wholesale rate card and finalise the direct-to-device framework.
The forum also recognised that expanding networks without making connectivity affordable will leave millions excluded. Operators and technology companies were urged to adopt shared-infrastructure and neutral-host models while supporting affordable, locally manufactured devices and SIMs.
Some of the most immediate commitments have deadlines. Within six months, stakeholders want funding secured for renewable-powered, community-owned networks in zero-connectivity areas. Within 6–18 months, they want wholesale reforms, broadband mapping, stronger Universal Service Fund backing and new investment models for indoor coverage and data centres. A telecommunications power financing framework and concession-based metro and access fibre are targeted within 18–24 months.
The Abuja forum has established that Nigeria’s digital infrastructure deficit is not simply a coverage problem. It is an investment, energy, regulatory and affordability problem requiring several institutions to act simultaneously.
The success of the resolutions will therefore depend less on producing another set of recommendations than on whether the promised reforms translate into bankable projects, predictable regulation, reliable power and affordable connectivity.