Stakeholders in Nigeria’s telecommunications industry have warned that infrastructure gaps, rising operating costs and regulatory bottlenecks could undermine the sustainability of the sector’s rapid growth.

They spoke yesterday at the Telecom Sector Sustainability Forum (TSSF 7.0), organised by Business Remarks in Lagos, with the theme, ‘Rethinking Nigeria’s Digital Infrastructure Strategy to Attract Investment and Drive Innovation’.

The stakeholders called for structural reforms and sustainable investment to close the country’s digital infrastructure gap and ensure that growing demand for connectivity does not outpace the capacity of the underlying infrastructure.

Welcoming participants, Convener of TSSF, Bukola Olanrewaju, said telecommunications had evolved beyond being an enabler of communication to becoming a fundamental pillar of Nigeria’s digital economy.

“Yet, sustaining this progress requires us to confront some difficult realities that can stall the steady growth of the industry,” she said.

According to her, rising infrastructure costs, foreign exchange pressures, high financing costs, energy expenses, inflation and the increasing cost of network deployment are placing significant pressure on operators and infrastructure providers.

“At the same time, demand for reliable connectivity continues to rise as businesses, government and citizens become increasingly dependent on digital services. Recent industry concerns over the cost of financing and maintaining network infrastructure further underscore the urgency of the conversation we are having today,” she said.

Nigeria’s telecom sector currently contributes nearly 10 per cent to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), while mobile data traffic has surged 43 per cent year-on-year, reflecting growing demand for digital services.

Yet, stakeholders said the infrastructure supporting this growth remains inadequate.
Nigeria has about 68,000km of terrestrial fibre-optic backhaul, compared with an estimated 120,000km required by 2030. Similarly, only about 46,000 towers have been deployed, against an estimated requirement of 80,000.

The country also has less than 100MW of live data centre capacity, compared with about 450MW in South Africa, leaving local cloud hosting and computing capacity severely constrained.

The infrastructure deficit has translated into frequent service disruptions. In the first quarter of 2026 alone, operators recorded 577 major outages, with fibre cuts accounting for 75 per cent of the incidents.

MTN Nigeria reportedly records more than 6,000 fibre cuts annually, while Airtel averages about 1,000 monthly.

The financial consequences are significant, with between N27 billion and N35 billion reportedly lost annually to fibre repairs and revenue leakage.
Speakers said the infrastructure deficit was being compounded by regulatory and fiscal constraints.

Presenting a paper titled ‘Rethinking Nigeria’s Digital Infrastructure Strategy’, the Chief Operating Officer, WTES, Chidi Princewill Ajuzie, said the industry continued to grapple with the Right-of-Way (RoW) challenge.

He noted that arbitrary RoW charges, ranging from zero to N4,500 per metre, could consume up to 50 per cent of capital budgets earmarked for fibre deployment.

He also identified high spectrum auction fees as another constraint, arguing that heavy upfront payments depleted funds that could otherwise be deployed to expand network infrastructure.

Ajuzie further cited fragmented approval processes, saying multiple and overlapping approvals across federal, state and local government agencies continued to delay projects.

He said capital constraints had also become more pronounced, with foreign direct investment into the telecom industry declining amid economic and administrative barriers.

According to him, regulatory harmonisation remains critical to unlocking sustainable investment in the sector.

“Without predictable, long-term infrastructure investment incentives, Nigeria risks falling short of its 2030 targets,” he warned.

Another major challenge is the cost of powering telecom sites.

With grid electricity unreliable, operators depend heavily on diesel generators, which account for more than 45 per cent of operational costs, according to Ajuzie.

Foreign exchange volatility has further increased fuel costs, while theft and vandalism of renewable-energy assets, including solar panels and inverters, are complicating the industry’s transition to cleaner energy.

The resulting “diesel trap”, he said, has continued to inflate operating expenditure and constrain the funds available for network expansion.

While urban centres are relatively saturated with telecom infrastructure, rural communities remain underserved. Broadband penetration is about 57 per cent, leaving millions of Nigerians without adequate access to the digital economy.

Ajuzie pointed to India’s BharatNet programme, which has delivered open-access fibre infrastructure to hundreds of thousands of villages, as a model Nigeria could adapt to reduce deployment costs and expand rural connectivity.

He also warned that as Nigeria digitises financial services and public records, cybersecurity vulnerabilities could pose systemic risks.

He called for the establishment of a National Cyber Operations Centre, mandatory cybersecurity audits for fintech companies and government portals, as well as specialised training programmes aimed at producing 10,000 elite cybersecurity professionals by 2030.

John Nwachukwu of Zoracom reinforced the need for stronger digital resilience.

“You can’t automate or secure what you can’t see,” he said.

He presented Zoracom’s Resilience Model, built around three layers — observability, automation and cybersecurity — to help ensure that network expansion does not translate into a corresponding increase in outages and security breaches.

Stakeholders said Nigeria’s 2030 targets — including 120,000km of fibre, 80,000 towers, 450MW of data centre capacity and 70 per cent broadband penetration — would require coordinated action.

They called for regulatory harmonisation, a review of spectrum policy, diversification of subsea cable landings and increased local data hosting to reduce foreign exchange pressures and strengthen the country’s digital infrastructure.