Despite recording a slight uptick in broadband penetration—from 47.73% in March to 48.15% in April 2025—Nigeria is nowhere near meeting its National Broadband Plan (NBP 2020–2025) target of 70% by the end of this year.
According to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), broadband subscriptions now total 104.3 million. Yet this headline figure masks a more troubling reality: Nigeria’s progress over the last five years has been sluggish at best. Since March 2020, the nation has only managed an 8.3 percentage-point increase—from 39.85% to 48.15%.
This underperformance can be traced to a constellation of entrenched structural challenges. Chief among them is the unresolved issue of Right of Way (RoW) charges. While broadband expansion relies heavily on fibre-optic deployment, many state governments continue to impose excessive fees for access, undermining national efforts to build out critical infrastructure. Only seven states have waived these charges, leaving the majority as regulatory bottlenecks rather than partners in progress.
NCC Executive Vice Chairman, Dr. Aminu Maida, underscored these concerns at a recent industry forum. “Major obstacles to telecom infrastructure development have been issues within the purview of sub-national governments, including right-of-way issues, multiple taxation, and infrastructure resilience,” he said. Maida added that reducing these burdens is essential to unlocking broadband’s potential for economic growth, job creation, and digital innovation.
Affordability remains another persistent hurdle. Following a 50% tariff increase approved in January, the cost of telecom services has surged. Voice call rates jumped from ₦6.40 to ₦9.60 per minute, while the price of 1GB of data soared from ₦287.50 to ₦431.25. This has already derailed the NBP’s affordability target of ₦360 per GB. Unsurprisingly, data usage has become erratic. In April, usage dropped to 983,283 terabytes from over 1 million in January, suggesting that many Nigerians are rationing data or disconnecting altogether.
The NBP also envisioned a robust local smartphone manufacturing sector, with a target price of ₦18,000 for basic smartphones. That vision never materialised. As of today, even entry-level devices cost upward of ₦100,000, pricing out millions. Without affordable devices, broadband access remains out of reach for many.
Another NBP goal—to get 70% of mobile users on 4G by 2023—has also fallen short. As of April 2025, just 49.27% of Nigeria’s 172 million active mobile lines are on 4G.
What’s clear is that Nigeria isn’t just missing targets; it’s missing the point. Broadband access is foundational—no different from electricity or potable water. But instead of laying the groundwork for a digitally resilient future, policy inertia and fragmented governance have kept the country stuck.
If Nigeria is truly committed to unlocking the promise of the digital economy, broadband must be prioritised as essential infrastructure. Until that happens, access will remain uneven, expensive, and ultimately exclusionary—cutting millions off from opportunity not by choice, but by circumstance.
