From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
Nigeria’s vision of attaining a 70 percent broadband penetration rate by the year 2025 stands as both a beacon of progress and a daunting challenge.
•Bosun Tijani
The country is up against formidable obstacles that could potentially damage its prospects of achieving this aim.
Despite the country’s strides in the telecommunications sector, factors such as insecurity, vandalism, economic crunch and exorbitant connectivity costs, among others are standing in the way of fulfilling this ambitious target.
In 2020, the federal government introduced the Nigeria National Broadband Policy (NNBP 2020–2025) with the aim of providing widespread high-speed internet access to 90 percent of the population at a penetration rate of 70 percent by 2025.
However, available records by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) show that broadband penetration in Nigeria stood at only 43.71 percent at the end of 2023. This indicates a 27 percent deficit which the country must bridge between now and next year to achieve the 70 percent target.
The issue of insecurity looms large, casting a shadow over the nation’s broadband aspirations. Persistent threats from various sources have not only endangered lives and property but have also disrupted critical infrastructure essential for the expansion of broadband services. The issue of insecurity has instilled fear and uncertainty, discouraging investment and hindering the smooth operation of networks.
Vandalism poses another significant challenge to Nigeria’s broadband penetration goal. Malicious acts targeting key telecommunications infrastructure, such as fiber-optic cables and cell towers, have become distressingly common. These deliberate acts of sabotage not only disrupt connectivity but also incur substantial financial losses, undermining the efforts to enhance broadband access across the country.
The Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) said that it records an average of 60 telecom facility destructions every day nationwide, which impairs the country’s ability to fulfil the target and creates service transmission interruptions.
NCC Executive Commissioner, Technical Services, Mr Ubale Maska, who disclosed this recently to journalists in Abuja, noted that such activities not only jeopardize the nation’s chances of meeting the coverage target, but also impact on the quality of internet service.
He said: “You should be aware that there is a consistent vandalization of infrastructure in this country.
“Some days, you could get as many as 50 to 60, 70. We get hundreds of these cuts every month. So, things are not getting easier. These things cost money, they are bought with foreign exchange, so getting to constantly maintain these things is becoming quite a drag.
“For instance, if you look at the road projects going on, you tend to see road construction projects breaking fibers all over the country. This is an unfortunate situation. It is really inhibiting achievement of these targets, they also impact on the quality of service because once there is disruption depending on the infrastructure involved, you could actually get service cuts in an entire area.”
Additionally, the high cost of connectivity presents a formidable barrier to achieving widespread broadband adoption in Nigeria. Despite the NNBP goal of not more than more than N390 per 1GB of data by 2025, affordability remains a key concern for many citizens, especially those in underserved and rural areas.
The prohibitive expenses associated with accessing and maintaining broadband services limit the reach of connectivity, exacerbating the digital divide and impeding the realization of the 90% penetration target.
Similarly, the capacity of operators to invest in equipment has been dwindled by the declining value of the Naira, coupled with a consistent decrease in Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) into the telecom industry.
Because of the sharp increase in the dollar-to-naira exchange rate, local operators are finding it difficult to import new equipment for network growth and upgrading.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recently released data showing a significant fall in Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) in the telecom industry of 70.5% in 2023.
The Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy had last year declared that the country would need an estimated $2 billion investment to lay fiber optic cables nationwide to meet the broadband target. However, in the same period, the telecom industry managed to attract only $134.75 million in FDIs.
According to Mr. Gbolahan Awonuga, the Head of Operations at the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), the significant rise of the dollar from about N460 last year to over N1,600 this year has disrupted the operators’ plans for importing equipment.
In addition to these challenges, regulatory issues, poor funding and lack of skilled manpower, among others, further compound the hurdles facing the country’s broadband expansion efforts.
According to Adeolu Ogunbanjo, president, National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers (NATCOMS), these multifaceted challenges demand a comprehensive approach that encompasses policy reforms, investment in security measures, infrastructure development, and initiatives to enhance affordability and accessibility.
Ogunbanjo called for the passage of the National Critical Infrastructure Bill, which he said would ensure that telecom facilities are well protected.
“We have to ensure that telecom masts are critical to national infrastructures. I do not know what the legislators want. Why have they not passed the bill? What are they waiting for? That is what will protect the telecom infrastructures and we can then move forward because that is one of the things that is disturbing the broadband penetration,” he stated.
Former Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, had said the Critical National Infrastructure Bill, when passed into law, would deal with the issues of frequent fibre cuts, infrastructure theft and vandalization, network congestion, community access denial, amongst other sectoral issues.
Also, former President of Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Engr. Ikechukwu Nnamani, said that with the right investment, Nigeria can still achieve the 70% broadband target by 2025.
According to him, “what is required is multiple simultaneous deployment in various cities. That requires funding. If the funding is available it is achievable.”
Meanwhile, Maska said the NCC has designed a better model for addressing telecom vandalism by deploying monitoring teams to provide real time quality report services.
He said: “Instead of waiting for a total report, we are looking at every single site over the country to see what is going on there, so that if there are issues, they are addressed faster than if you had to wait for the monthly reports to come in.
“Now, to maintain the plan on course, the commission has started to look elsewhere. Ordinarily, most of those targets were based on assumptions that we will get fibers laid all over the country. This is not happening for many reasons.
“The investment is not coming in as it should. You all know the economic situation in the country, so the commission has now turned to looking at satellite broadband. There is what is called aloe Earth orbit (LEO), like starlink and many others that are coming. So, we are hoping that this will now provide the necessary coverage all over the country as well as the connections to the operators.
“We are aware that it is expensive at this stage, but what makes it attractive is the fact that it is not just one company coming in, but, there are many others because once we have competition, the cost would go down.”
He expressed optimism that the nation may still realise its broadband vision with some of the initiatives that the commission is implementing.
“So, the hope is that those broadband targets would still be achieved but from a different approach. So, rather than fiber optics, we will rely more now on the satellite connectivity that is promising to give us much faster roll out, covering all areas of the country,” he stated.