Telecom
NCC’s Maida Calls for Unified Action to Accelerate Broadband and Safeguard Telecom Infrastructure
Dr. Aminu Maida, Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has called for urgent collaboration among Nigeria’s states and stakeholders to accelerate broadband connectivity and safeguard critical national infrastructure.
L-R: Director, Critical National Assets and Infrastructure Protection, Office of the National Security Advisers (ONSA), Enebong Effiom; Executive Governor, Katsina State, Dikko Radda and Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Aminu Maida, during a business roundtable on broadband investment and critical national infrastructure protection hosted by the Commission in Abuja on Wednesday (October 8, 2025).
Speaking at a business roundtable held at the NCC Digital Economy Complex on Wednesday, October 8, 2025, the EVC emphasized broadband as a national imperative for economic growth, security, and digital inclusion under the theme, “Right of Way and Protection of Broadband Infrastructure – The Road to Success in Broadband Investment and Connectivity.”
Dr. Maida began his remarks by underscoring the invaluable role of connectivity across industries, citing examples from Enugu’s industrial sector to security services relying on real-time data. “When connectivity fails, opportunities evaporate, productivity stalls—and in critical situations, lives can be put at risk,” he said.
He stressed that broadband today transcends faster downloads or video calls; it is the bedrock of economic inclusion and national resilience.
According to the EVC, Nigeria’s broadband penetration stood at approximately 48.81 percent as of August 2025, with over 140 million Nigerians online. Highlighting the sector’s contribution to GDP, he cited research indicating a 10 percent broadband increase could boost GDP by 1.38 percent in developing countries.
Expanding broadband access, Dr. Maida said, would multiply economic opportunities, enabling new jobs, services, and innovation hubs across Nigeria’s states.
He referenced Rwanda and India’s success stories, where coordinated investments in fiber infrastructure and digital governance transformed their economies into emerging digital powerhouses.
The EVC lauded the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Communications Minister Dr. Bosun Tijani for pursuing the National Broadband Plan (2020–2025) with ambitious targets of 70 percent broadband penetration and deployment of 90,000 kilometres of fiber backbone by year-end.
To this end, the NCC has translated these goals into strategic actions despite operational challenges.
Among the NCC’s key initiatives, Dr. Maida highlighted the Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII) Presidential Order signed in June 2024, which empowers law enforcement agencies to combat vandalism, theft, and denial of service attacks on telecom infrastructure.
The Commission, working closely with the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), has operationalized this order through a Telecommunications Industry Working Group focused on site security, maintenance, and access control.
Complemented by public awareness campaigns and collaboration with judicial and security institutions, this effort has led to the dismantling of major vandalism cartels over the past two years.
Addressing the historic challenge of high Right of Way (RoW) fees—levied variably by states and often hindering fiber rollout—the EVC disclosed successes in advocacy resulting in five additional states (Adamawa, Bauchi, Enugu, Benue, and Zamfara) waiving these fees, bringing the total to eleven states without RoW charges.
Seventeen other states have capped fees at the Nigerian Governors Forum benchmark of N145 per linear meter. Dr. Maida underscored ongoing efforts to achieve uniform, predictable RoW regimes nationwide, coupled with “dig-once” coordination with public works to share ducts and plans, cutting fiber damage and civil works costs.
The NCC further strengthened investor confidence by approving cost-reflective and competitive tariff rates earlier this year, prompting operators’ collective commitment of over $1 billion in broadband rollout investments across Nigeria.
To enhance market openness, the Commission has commissioned a wholesale fiber study to facilitate backbone sharing between owners and Internet Service Providers, unlocking last-mile expansion and faster backhaul.
On transparency, the Commission expanded performance disclosures, including outage reporting, quality of service dashboards, and compliance metrics to drive accountability.
Despite these achievements, the EVC highlighted continuing challenges: from January to August 2025, Nigeria recorded 19,384 fiber cut incidents, 3,241 equipment thefts, and over 19,000 cases of denied access to telecom sites, causing prolonged outages and increased security costs.
Further obstacles include fragmented and unpredictable RoW regimes, weak coordination with road authorities, energy supply volatility, multiple taxation, and bureaucratic permitting processes.
Dr. Maida warned of the urgency, citing the accelerating global digital race driven by artificial intelligence and outsourcing movements favoring low-cost, high-connectivity environments. “If our broadband backbone is weak, our youth will be marginalized, and our economy will likely not achieve its full potential,” he said, underscoring that communities without digital connectivity today are essentially invisible.
The EVC urged governors and state authorities to partner in enforcing telecom infrastructure as critical assets; adopt 100 percent RoW waivers or at minimum NGF benchmarks with clear timelines; institutionalize coordination between public works and operators; embrace transparency in fees and processes; establish state digital infrastructure funds to attract private fiber investment; and support energy resilience through hybrid and solar power at telecom sites.
Looking ahead, Dr. Maida announced two major NCC initiatives to be launched the next day: an Ease of Doing Business Portal offering a one-stop-shop for all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, and the Nigeria Digital Connectivity Index (NDCI), a framework to annually measure and publish states’ digital readiness and competitiveness to enhance accountability and drive improvements.
He concluded with a powerful call to action: “The digital revolution does not wait. Let us align, invest, and protect, for the prosperity of our people and the future of our nation.” He left the audience with one final question, “Will we align—or be left behind?”
This roundtable marks a pivotal moment in Nigeria’s journey toward a digitally inclusive and economically robust future, positioning broadband connectivity and its protection as strategic national imperatives.
Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA) has urged African governments to recognise telecommunications as a core economic pillar and implement specific tax reforms that could dramatically accelerate digital inclusion across the continent.
Mr. Daddy Mukadi, chair of GSMA Africa’s Policy Group, proposed a two-to-three-year exemption on import duties and taxes for entry-level smartphones priced between $40 and $150 to help bridge the usage gap.
He also called for the removal of entry duties on telecommunications equipment for at least three years to support the expansion of network coverage.
“These measures would help deliver inclusive and sustainable digital technology for economic and social progress. They would also support faster connectivity, improved access and the ability to connect more people, businesses and communities to the digital economy,” he said.
Mukadi who is also the chief regulatory officer of Airtel Africa, spoke at the first edition of the États Généraux du Secteur des Postes et Télécommunications in Kinshasa, DRC, an event convened to support the development of a strategic roadmap for the country’s digital and telecommunications sector and attended President Félix Tshisekedi.
He urged government and industry stakeholders to rethink the role of telecommunications in national development, arguing that it should be framed not as a sector specific concern, but as a continent-wide imperative.
“The telecoms sector can no longer be considered merely as a support sector. It is now a core sector. Both are vital, and every other sector, from security and finance to transport and health, depends on digital technology for growth,” Mukadi said.
His remarks come at a critical moment for Africa’s digital economy. According to the GSMA’s Mobile Economy Africa 2025 report, the mobile sector contributed $220 billion to the continent’s economy in 2024.
This is equivalent to 7.7per cent of GDP and is projected to reach $270 billion by 2030. Yet despite mobile networks now covering 95per cent of Africa’s population, nearly 75per cent of people across the continent remain offline.
The GSMA identifies this gap as Africa’s greatest connectivity challenge, driven above all by the unaffordability of devices.
Mukadi therefore called for strategic adjustments to public policy, as well as legal and regulatory frameworks, to support wider access to digital services. He said the telecommunications sector should be treated as a foundational pillar of economic development, with stakeholders working together to accelerate investment, expand coverage and close the usage gap across the continent.
The Chief Regulatory Officer of Airtel Africa also highlighted key barriers to digital inclusion, including the affordability of smartphones and the impact of import duties on telecommunications infrastructure.
He added that government and the private sector must work closely to create a regulatory environment that encourages innovation, protects consumer interests and supports long-term investment.
Federal High Court in Abuja has issued an interim injunction restraining MTN Nigeria and Airtel Networks from suspending or interfering with Nairtime Nigeria’s access to critical telecommunications platforms including short codes, SMS, USSD, and billing services, following a directive by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) that left Nigerians without a safety net.
The order, granted on April 24, 2026 in Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/779/2026, ensures that millions of consumers, particularly those without access to traditional banking, can continue to access airtime and data on credit, services increasingly vital for daily communication, work, education, and digital participation.
Nairtime, part of the Optasia Group, is a leading provider of airtime and data credit services in Africa and the Middle East, facilitating micro-lending for mobile users.
According to Nairtime, the court’s intervention provides policy certainty and reinforces the legitimacy of its operations, which are conducted under a valid Value-Added Service licence issued by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
The company noted that the suspension linked to the Digital, Electronic, Online or Non-Traditional Consumer Lending Regulations 2025 risked disrupting services relied upon daily by ordinary Nigerians.
Ms Uchenna Agbo, chief commercial officer of Optasia and chief executive officer of Nairtime Nigeria Limited, said: “This decision is ultimately about protecting underserved Nigerian consumers.
It ensures that millions of people, many of whom are underserved by traditional financial systems, retain uninterrupted access to essential digital services. Over time, using these services responsibly can help them prove reliability and improve their chances of accessing bigger financial opportunities in the future.
“Our platform enables responsible, data-driven lending that keeps people connected when they need it most and we look forward to working with our partners to restore services in a manner that resumes full service value to the Nigerian consumers without further delay.”
Nairtime reaffirmed its commitment to consumer and data protection through stringent governance frameworks and ethical use of artificial intelligence, and emphasised that it shares the broader consumer protection objectives of the Federal Government while remaining open to constructive engagement with regulators and industry partners.
Agbo added: “We have built a system that supports inclusion at scale, while maintaining strong risk controls for industry stability and economic impact. This ruling allows us to continue delivering safe, reliable services that Nigerians depend on every day.
“We remain focused on ensuring that the Nigerian consumer stays at the centre of innovation and will continue working with regulators and our partners, including MTN and Airtel, to promote a fair, transparent, and inclusive digital ecosystem that benefits Nigeria and all Nigerians.”
Optasia, which listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in late 2025 and was founded in Nigeria 14 years ago, provides the infrastructure layer connecting mobile network operators and banks to millions of underserved customers.
Through global partnerships with 50 distribution partners and 17 financial institutions, including some of Africa’s largest MNOs and tier-one banks, the platform uses proprietary AI that processes credit decisions in under one second, using alternative data to assess risk for customers who have never held a formal credit product.
Beyond telcos, the company is also developing new propositions including SME and merchant finance, longer-term and higher-value credit, telco BNPL and revolving credit lines, and embedding its platform across adjacent ecosystems and verticals.
Nigeria has been ranked the most spammed country in Africa, according to a new report by Truecaller has shown. The report showed that more than half of all unknown calls received by Nigerians in 2025 were identified as spam or fraudulent.
About 51 per cent of unknown calls were flagged as spam, placing Nigeria eighth in the world and ahead of African countries like South Africa, Kenya, Ghana and Ethiopia.
According to the report, most spam calls in Nigeria are linked to telecom companies and network-related promotions. Telecom-related calls made up 35 per cent of spam calls, while sales and telemarketing accounted for 10 per cent. Scam calls represented six per cent.
Truecaller said many Nigerians now struggle to know whether an unknown caller is a real network provider, a marketer, or a fraudster pretending to be from a trusted company.
The report also noted that Brazil faces a similar problem, with telecom-related calls dominating spam activities.
Globally, Indonesia ranked as the most spammed country in the world, with 79 per cent of unknown calls marked as spam. Chile came second with 70 per cent, while Vietnam, Brazil and India completed the top five.
The company added that the Middle East and Africa region passed 100 million monthly active users in late 2025, making Africa one of its fastest-growing markets.
Chief Executive Officer of Truecaller, Rishit Jhunjhunwala, said fraud and impersonation calls have become a serious global concern.
He said the company plans to focus more on stopping fraudulent calls before they reach users in 2026.
Truecaller also announced that it surpassed 500 million monthly active users worldwide as of March 31, 2026, with more than 150 million users outside India.
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