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By Chinenye Anuforo
The nation’s telecommunications sector is poised to shift decisively from consolidation to acceleration in 2026, as rising digital demand converges with renewed industry ambition and tighter regulatory alignment, according to Tony Izuagbe Emoekpere, President of the Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON).
Emoekpere said that while 2025 was defined by resilience and careful capital discipline, the year ahead must be about execution, speed and scale.
“The question for 2026 is no longer whether the sector can withstand pressure,” he said. “It is how quickly it can expand to meet Nigeria’s growing digital ambitions.”
In 2026, telecom operators and infrastructure providers are expected to intensify investment across fibre rollout and densification, deeper infrastructure sharing, last-mile broadband expansion and data-centre capacity. According to Emoekpere, demand signals from fintech, digital payments, cloud services, content platforms and emerging AI workloads are already shaping investment priorities.
Planned initiatives include accelerating fibre deployment through open-access and wholesale models, expanding fixed wireless access and fibre-to-the-home connections, and improving network resilience through redundancy and energy-efficient power solutions.
“These investments are not speculative. They are a direct response to the scale and sophistication of digital services Nigerians now depend on daily”, Emoekpere noted.
A key inflection point for 2026 will be the transition from policy frameworks to visible infrastructure delivery. Emoekpere said initiatives such as Project BRIDGE, the proposed 90,000-kilometre open-access national fibre backbone, could unlock significant wholesale capacity once execution begins.
If delivered as designed, the project is expected to ease network congestion, reduce rollout costs and enable faster coverage expansion into underserved and rural areas, providing mobile operators and internet service providers with more affordable backbone access.
Sustained regulatory stability remains central to the sector’s outlook. The ATCON President said the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has played a critical role in maintaining predictability through spectrum management, Quality of Service enforcement, infrastructure-sharing policies and transparent industry reporting.
He added that in a capital-intensive industry, such certainty often determines whether long-term projects advance or stall.
Policy direction from the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy under Bosun Tijani is also expected to shape the pace of sector growth in 2026, particularly around digital inclusion, skills development and emerging technologies.
For 2026 to deliver on its promise, Emoekpere stressed that policy intent must be matched by enforcement. He pointed to the designation of telecom assets as Critical National Infrastructure as a landmark decision that must translate into tangible protection of fibre routes, towers and network facilities.
Equally important, he said, is Right-of-Way harmonisation and the reduction of multiple taxation at state and local government levels. “States that adopt progressive RoW policies benefit from faster rollout, lower costs and improved service availability,” he said, urging wider national adoption.
As the industry body representing telecom operators and infrastructure providers, ATCON’s agenda for 2026 includes championing industry-led expansion, advocating open-access networks and fair wholesale pricing, supporting regulatory consistency and strengthening collaboration among operators, regulators, ministries and security agencies.
He emphasised that telecommunications must continue to be treated as strategic national infrastructure rather than just a commercial sector.
“With aligned policy execution, sustained private investment and regulatory stability,” he said, “2026 will mark the beginning of a new phase of accelerated growth, deeper digital inclusion and stronger digital foundations for Nigeria’s economy.”
