KEY POINTS
- Nigeria has about 68,000km of terrestrial fibre against an estimated requirement of 120,000km.
- High Right of Way charges, multiple approvals, power shortages and insecurity are raising deployment costs.
- WTES Projects wants shared infrastructure, spectrum reforms and greater investment in renewable energy and local data centres.
MAIN STORY
An ICT infrastructure expert, Mr Chidi Ajuzie, has called for a new digital infrastructure strategy to accelerate broadband expansion and make network deployment more attractive to investors.
Ajuzie, Chief Operating Officer of WTES Projects, made the call on Wednesday in Lagos at the Telecom Sector Sustainability Forum 7.0, organised by Business Remarks.
The forum, themed “Rethinking Nigeria’s Digital Infrastructure Strategy to Attract Investment and Drive Innovation”, focused on the infrastructure gaps limiting the expansion of Nigeria’s digital economy.
Ajuzie said Nigeria’s policy approach needed to move away from short term revenue generation towards measures that encouraged sustained investment in broadband, fibre networks, data centres and emerging technologies.
He said the country had about 195 million active mobile lines but still faced substantial gaps in high speed broadband and supporting digital infrastructure.
According to him, Nigeria has about 68,000km of terrestrial fibre, while around 120,000km would be required to support nationwide connectivity.
Ajuzie identified Right of Way charges, multiple regulatory approvals, unreliable electricity and insecurity as major barriers to further infrastructure deployment.
He said RoW charges varied significantly across states, ranging from zero to N4,500 per linear metre, and could account for up to half of the capital budget for major fibre projects.
The expert therefore urged governments to view RoW as an economic multiplier rather than an immediate revenue source, while working towards harmonised charges and approval procedures across the country.
He also proposed an open access wholesale infrastructure model under which operators could lease capacity on a shared national fibre network instead of constructing overlapping routes.
According to him, this would reduce duplication while allowing service providers to compete on pricing, service quality and innovation.
Ajuzie cited India’s BharatNet initiative as an example of a model in which public investment supports passive fibre infrastructure that private operators can access on non discriminatory terms.
He also called for changes to spectrum management, arguing that high upfront spectrum payments could divert funds that operators would otherwise use for physical network expansion.
He proposed converting part of spectrum payments into legally binding network expansion credits linked to measurable infrastructure deployment.
Ajuzie further called for faster allocation of suitable spectrum bands, including 3.5GHz and 700MHz, to support broader 5G coverage.
Power costs were another area of concern. He said electricity and diesel accounted for about 45 per cent of telecom site operating expenditure and advocated greater use of renewable energy to reduce the burden.
He acknowledged that renewable energy equipment at telecom sites could face vandalism and theft, making stronger security and monitoring necessary.
On data infrastructure, Ajuzie said Nigeria needed to increase live data centre capacity from less than 100 megawatts to about 450 megawatts by 2030.
He said expanding local hosting capacity would reduce reliance on overseas infrastructure, improve latency and keep more technology related revenue within the Nigerian economy.
The expert also advocated an integrated digital public infrastructure system linking digital identity, payments and secure data exchange. He said greater interoperability among government databases covering identity, banking, telecommunications, police and voter records could reduce transaction barriers, provided adequate privacy and security safeguards were maintained.
Ajuzie further recommended establishing additional subsea cable landing points outside Lagos to reduce the impact of international cable disruptions.
He said greater diversity in cable landings, stronger terrestrial links and regional data centres would improve Nigeria’s digital resilience.
THE ISSUES
- Fibre deployment remains a major infrastructure gap, with the country’s existing terrestrial fibre network significantly below the estimated requirement for nationwide connectivity. Closing the gap will require lower deployment costs and stronger incentives for long term investment.
- RoW charges can materially affect the economics of fibre projects, particularly where operators face different fees and approval procedures across states. Harmonisation could make network expansion more predictable for investors.
- A shared infrastructure model could reduce the duplication created when several operators build parallel fibre routes. Under the proposed approach, operators would share infrastructure while competing through the services delivered over it.
- Spectrum costs also affect how operators allocate capital. Linking part of spectrum payments to measurable network expansion would redirect some investment towards physical infrastructure, according to the proposal.
- Energy remains a significant operating cost for telecom infrastructure. Greater use of renewable power could reduce dependence on diesel, although protection of equipment from vandalism and theft would remain necessary.
- Nigeria’s digital resilience also depends on infrastructure beyond telecommunications networks. Additional subsea cable landing points, local data centres and stronger terrestrial connections could reduce the country’s exposure to disruptions affecting individual infrastructure routes.
WHAT’S BEING SAID
“RoW should be treated as an economic multiplier rather than an immediate source of revenue.” – Chidi Ajuzie, WTES Projects
WHAT’S NEXT
Ajuzie urged the government, regulators, telecom operators and investors to develop a coordinated infrastructure roadmap covering the next five years.
He said coordinated reforms could increase the digital economy’s contribution to Nigeria’s GDP from about 15 per cent to 30 per cent by 2030 and create more than two million direct technical and operational jobs across the digital economy.
BOTTOM LINE
Nigeria’s broadband expansion faces infrastructure, regulatory, energy and security constraints that continue to raise deployment costs. Ajuzie is calling for coordinated reforms that prioritise long term infrastructure investment and wider digital access.
