Broadband penetration in Nigeria declined for the second consecutive month in July to 48.01% because the variety of Nigerians getting access to high-speed web dropped.
Earlier in June, broadband penetration had declined from 48.8% in Might to 48.7%.
This got here regardless of a current assurance by the Nigerian Communications Fee (NCC) that nation was heading in the right direction to attain the 70% penetration goal by this year-end as set within the Nationwide Broadband Coverage (NBP 2020-2025).
In keeping with knowledge launched by the NCC, the variety of broadband connections in Nigeria declined from 105.7 million in June to 104 million in July.
Different targets already missed
Except for the general 70% goal on the finish of 2025, which is about to be missed, the nation has missed a number of different targets set within the broadband plan.
Going by the timelines of the Plan, broadband penetration within the nation was anticipated to be at 50% on the finish of 2023. Nonetheless, on the finish of the yr, penetration stood at 43.71% and rose marginally to 44.43% on the finish of 2024.
- Recognizing the excessive value of smartphones as one of many entry boundaries to broadband within the nation, the Plan developed by key consultants within the ICT business appointed by the federal government, recommends that the nation ought to have at the least one smartphone meeting plant by 2023.
- This was to make sure the value of an entry-level smartphone within the nation could possibly be as little as N18,000.
- Nonetheless, the nation presently has no native smartphone meeting plant, whereas prices of smartphones within the nation have skyrocketed on account of the Naira devaluation. The most cost effective smartphone available in the market presently sells for greater than N100,000.
- In keeping with the Plan, a part of the milestones to measure progress embody that 70% of telecom subscriptions ought to be on 4G by 2023. Nonetheless, NCC’s knowledge reveals that solely 50.85% of the 169.3 million energetic subscriptions within the nation had been on 4G as of July 2025.
Obstacles to implementation
The sluggish tempo of motion within the implementation of the Broadband Plan is being blamed on a number of challenges inhibiting the deployment of infrastructure.
Particularly, excessive value of Proper of Approach fees by states is seen as one main bottleneck as operators are paying by the nostril to states, with the exception seven states which have waived the charges.
- The Government Vice Chairman of the NCC, Dr. Aminu Maida, emphasised this at a current telecom discussion board, noting that whereas the federal authorities is focusing on 70% broadband penetration by the NBP 2020-2025, main obstacles to attaining the targets are coming from states.
- In keeping with him, a number of state rules and insurance policies are working towards the plan and they might must be reviewed for the states to reap the advantages of the digital financial system from ubiquitous broadband penetration.
- Describing broadband connectivity as a catalyst for financial progress, driving the digital financial system, creating job alternatives, and fostering entrepreneurship, Maida mentioned broadband connectivity would bridge the digital divide and make digital instruments accessible to all residents.
What it’s best to know
As of March 2020, when the Nationwide Broadband Plan was launched, Nigeria’s broadband penetration stood at 39.85% with some 75.4 million Nigerians linked to broadband service.
This reveals that Nigeria has probably not made a lot progress with the implementation and leads to the final 4 years.
Nonetheless, Nigeria is seeing regular progress in knowledge consumption regardless of the sluggish tempo of broadband penetration. Nairametrics reported that knowledge consumption within the nation hit an all-time excessive of 1.1 million terabytes in July 2025.
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