Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has declared support for the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC’s) push to promote local smartphone manufacturing in the country.

Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, ALTON,

The News Agency of Nigeria reported that ALTON described the move as a practical measure capable of accelerating broadband adoption and expanding digital inclusion across the country.

Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, ALTON, made the remarks to newsmen on Saturday while reacting to comments by Idris Olorunnimbe, chairman, NCC Board, who had earlier called for local smartphone production and innovative financing models to address Nigeria’s digital inclusion gap.

Adebayo said Nigeria must intentionally transition from being predominantly a technology consumer to becoming an innovator, designer and manufacturer of digital technologies, pointing to the country’s large telecommunications market and youthful population as the scale and human capital needed to support world-class manufacturing.

He said Nigeria’s ambition in local manufacturing should extend well beyond simply assembling imported components into finished devices.

“Our ambition should extend beyond assembling devices. We must pursue genuine knowledge transfer, research and development, product engineering, software development, semiconductor capabilities and large-scale manufacturing,” he said, adding that the goal should be producing devices and digital technologies for Nigeria, Africa and the global market.

Adebayo explained that the emergence of artificial intelligence has further strengthened Nigeria’s opportunity to become a competitive technology manufacturing hub, noting that AI is transforming product design, manufacturing, quality assurance, supply chain management, customer experience and software innovation.

He said investing in AI-enabled manufacturing would improve productivity, create high-value jobs and strengthen Nigeria’s competitiveness across Africa.

On tackling counterfeit and non-type-approved devices, Adebayo described the grey market as a major challenge affecting consumers, original equipment manufacturers and the wider telecommunications ecosystem.

He said robust local manufacturing backed by strong quality standards would provide credible alternatives to grey-market imports.

“This will strengthen consumer protection, improve network performance, retain greater value within our economy, and stimulate industrial growth,” he said, while also endorsing innovative smartphone financing, stronger device management systems and identity-enabled credit frameworks to help more Nigerians afford quality smartphones.

Adebayo said telecom operators remain ready to partner with government, manufacturers, financiers, academia, investors and development partners to build sustainable local manufacturing capacity in Nigeria.

Ayotunde Coker, managing director, Open Access Data Centres has reiterated availability of abundant capacity and world-class infrastructure in key data centres in Nigeria.

This is coming against the backdrop of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) directive to banks, fintechs, mobile money operators, and other payment service providers to host their payment transaction data generated within Nigeria on local servers from January 1st, 2027.

Mr. Coker made the assertion at a media interactive session on readiness of major data centres in the country such as Open Access Data centres to effectively host financial sector data.

“As far as readiness is concerned, we have the co-location base, the co-infrastructure basis, and interconnection capability. Indigenous cloud companies are building out, such companies like Unicloud Africa, Layer 3 within the data centres, adding cloud capability, and providing cloud solutions to local companies.

“The other key thing with the directive is that it sends a signal to the world that data sovereignty localization is key. And will also trigger the global providers to bring their own scale of cloud in here in time, which is good for building our digital infrastructure scale”.

The CBN directive signed by the Director of the Payments System Supervision Department, Rakiya Yusuf, also introduced new market structure rules, beneficial ownership disclosure requirements and systemic oversight measures for payment service operators.

According to the apex bank, the reforms became necessary following the rapid expansion of electronic payments and digital financial services across the country.

The CBN said it had observed “significant structural developments within the Nigerian Payments ecosystem, characterized by rapid growth in electronic payments, increasing adoption of digital financial services, and the emergence of operators with substantial market presence across key payment activities.”

It noted that while the growth had improved innovation, efficiency and financial inclusion, it had also created concerns around market concentration, operational dependence, ownership transparency and the storage of critical payments data.

To address these concerns, the regulator ordered all financial institutions facilitating payments in Nigeria to ensure that transaction data generated within the country are stored domestically.

The circular stated, “All Financial Institutions and participants facilitating payments within Nigeria shall ensure that payments transaction data generated within Nigeria are stored and managed in Nigeria in accordance with data protection laws and regulations applicable in Nigeria.”

It added that “all affected Financial Institutions shall fully comply with this requirement effective January 1, 2027.”

The move is expected to strengthen regulatory oversight, enhance data sovereignty and ensure that sensitive payment information remains within Nigeria’s jurisdiction.

It also aligns with broader efforts by regulators globally to localise critical financial data and reduce reliance on offshore infrastructure.

Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria has thrown its weight behind the Nigerian Communications Commission’s push for local smartphone manufacturing, saying the initiative could significantly boost digital inclusion, create jobs and position Nigeria as a technology manufacturing hub.

ALTON Chairman, Gbenga Adebayo, gave the endorsement on Saturday while reacting to the call by the Chairman of the NCC Governing Board, Idris Olorunnimbe, for increased local smartphone production and innovative financing models to make devices more affordable.

Adebayo described the proposal as a practical response to one of the biggest barriers to digital inclusion in Nigeria, noting that smartphone affordability had overtaken network coverage and data costs as the major obstacle to broadband adoption.

He said Nigeria must deliberately shift from being a consumer of technology to becoming a producer, innovator and exporter of digital technologies.

“Our ambition should extend beyond assembling devices. We must pursue genuine knowledge transfer, research and development, product engineering, software development, semiconductor capabilities and large-scale manufacturing,” he said.

According to him, Nigeria possesses the population size, telecommunications market and youthful workforce needed to build a globally competitive technology manufacturing industry.

He said the country’s long-term objective should be to produce smartphones and other digital technologies not only for domestic consumption but also for export across Africa and the global market.

Adebayo said the emergence of Artificial Intelligence had further strengthened Nigeria’s opportunity to become a major technology manufacturing destination.

He explained that AI was already transforming manufacturing through improved product design, quality assurance, supply chain management and customer experience.

He noted that investments in AI-enabled production would improve productivity, create high-value jobs and strengthen Nigeria’s competitiveness.

The telecom operators’ chairman also backed the NCC’s proposal to tackle the proliferation of counterfeit and non-type-approved devices.

He described the grey market as a major challenge affecting consumers, original equipment manufacturers and the telecommunications ecosystem.

According to him, robust local manufacturing supported by strong quality standards and effective type approval would provide credible alternatives to substandard imported devices while boosting consumer confidence.

“This will strengthen consumer protection, improve network performance, retain greater value within our economy and stimulate industrial growth,” he said.

Adebayo further endorsed innovative smartphone financing models, improved device management systems and identity-enabled credit frameworks, saying they would enable more Nigerians to own quality smartphones through affordable payment plans.

He said telecom operators were ready to partner with the government, manufacturers, financiers, investors, academia and development partners to establish a sustainable local manufacturing ecosystem.

“The initiative represents a national economic transformation agenda capable of creating jobs and strengthening Nigeria’s position in the global digital economy,” he added.

Olorunnimbe had, during the Digital Africa Summit Roundtable in Shanghai, argued that Nigeria’s biggest digital inclusion challenge was no longer network coverage or data affordability but the high cost of smartphones.

He urged coordinated efforts involving local manufacturing, trusted devices, financing and policy reforms to accelerate broadband penetration and unlock the country’s digital economy.