Nigeria needs new telecom infrastructure strategy – Expert
Lagos, Sept. 2026 (NAN) An ICT infrastructure expert, Mr Chidi Ajuzie has called for a new digital infrastructure strategy to accelerate broadband expansion and reduce deployment costs in Nigeria.
Ajuzie, the Chief Operating Officer, WTES Projects, made the call at the Telecom Sector Sustainability Forum (TSSF) 7.0 on Wednesday in Lagos.
The TSSF 7.0 which was organised by Business Remarks had the theme: ‘Rethinking Nigeria’s Digital Infrastructure Strategy to Attract Investment and Drive Innovation’.
He said that Nigeria’s digital infrastructure strategy must shift from short-term revenue extraction to policies that encouraged long-term investment in broadband, fibre, data centres and emerging technologies.
According to him, Nigeria has about 195 million active mobile lines but continues to face significant gaps in high-speed broadband access and digital infrastructure.
Ajuzie said that Nigeria currently had about 68,000 kilometres of terrestrial fibre, compared to an estimated requirement of 120,000 kilometres to support nationwide connectivity.
He identified high Right-of-Way (RoW) charges, multiple regulatory approvals, unreliable electricity and insecurity as major constraints to telecom infrastructure expansion.
The expert said that inconsistent RoW charges across states could range from zero to N4,500 per linear metre, significantly increasing the cost of fibre deployment.
He said that RoW charges could consume up to half of the capital budget for major fibre rollouts, making infrastructure expansion less attractive to investors.
Ajuzie urged governments to treat RoW as an economic multiplier rather than an immediate source of revenue, while harmonising charges and approval processes nationwide.
He also advocated for an open-access wholesale infrastructure model, where a shared national fibre network would allow telecom operators to lease capacity instead of repeatedly constructing parallel routes.
According to him, such a model will reduce infrastructure duplication and allow service providers to compete through service quality, pricing and innovation.
Ajuzie cited India’s BharatNet model, which used public investment in passive fibre infrastructure and allowed private operators to access the network on non-discriminatory terms.
He also called for reforms in spectrum management, arguing that high upfront spectrum fees could reduce the capital available to operators for physical network deployment.
The expert proposed converting part of spectrum payments into legally binding network-expansion credits tied to measurable infrastructure deployment.
He urged faster allocation of suitable spectrum bands, including 3.5GHz and 700MHz, to support wider 5G coverage.
Ajuzie further advocated for greater investment in renewable energy for telecom sites, saying that power and diesel accounted for about 45 per cent of site operating expenditures.
He, however, acknowledged that renewable infrastructure could face vandalism and theft, hence, requiring stronger security and monitoring systems.
The expert also called for increased investment in local data-centre capacity, saying that Nigeria needed to expand from less than 100 megawatts of live capacity to about 450 megawatts by 2030.
He said that stronger local hosting capacity would reduce dependence on overseas infrastructure, improve latency and retain more technology-related revenue within the country.
Ajuzie advocated for an integrated digital public infrastructure system linking digital identity, payments and secure data exchange to reduce transaction friction and support financial inclusion.
He said that government databases, including identity, banking, telecommunications, police and voter records, needed stronger interoperability while maintaining appropriate security and privacy safeguards.
The infrastructure expert also recommended multiple subsea cable landing points outside Lagos to strengthen Nigeria’s resilience against international cable disruptions.
Ajuzie said that diversifying cable landings, strengthening terrestrial links and developing regional data centres would improve the country’s digital resilience.
He projected that coordinated infrastructure reforms could raise the digital economy’s contribution to Nigeria’s GDP from about 15 per cent to 30 per cent by 2030.
Ajuzie also projected that infrastructure expansion could generate more than two million direct technical and operational jobs across the digital economy.
He urged government, regulators, operators and investors to adopt a coordinated infrastructure roadmap capable of supporting Nigeria’s digital transformation over the next five years.
