NCC's Dr. Maida Calls for Telecoms Investment in Nigeria

The Nigerian telecommunications sector faces a significant infrastructure deficit, requiring between 30,000 and 40,000 additional telecom towers to enhance connectivity in underserved areas. Currently, there are about 40,000 towers, hosting 145,141 base equipment units.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has called for investor intervention to alleviate pressure on existing networks, especially as data consumption surged from 1.13 terabytes to 1.66 terabytes in 2025. At the Digital Infrastructure Investment Forum in Abuja, Dr. Aminu Maida, Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, stated that the forum aimed to foster dialogue among regulators, investors, and infrastructure providers to identify investment needs and barriers.

Since the liberalization of the sector in 2001, cumulative investments have exceeded $76 billion. However, capital importation dropped by about 91% in Q1 2026, indicating a reliance on domestic reinvestment by major players like MTN and Airtel.

Measures such as telecommunications tariff adjustments and the designation of telecom infrastructure as Critical National Information Infrastructure by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu have been implemented to support network investment.