By Abubakar Yunusa
The Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) says Nigeria’s telecommunications sector is set for accelerated growth in 2026, with operators planning to expand fibre networks, data centres, and digital infrastructure.
In a statement on Monday, Tony Emoekpere, ATCON president, said the sector enters 2026 from a position of renewed confidence after a challenging but resilient 2025.
“The foundations laid during that period through the combined efforts of industry players, the regulator, and government point clearly toward acceleration, expansion, and deeper digital inclusion in the year ahead,” Emoekpere said.
According to the ATCON boss, telecom operators, tower companies, fibre providers, internet service providers, and data-centre operators faced rising energy costs, foreign exchange volatility, equipment import pressures, right-of-way challenges, and other persistent infrastructure risks in 2025.
Despite the challenges, he said, operators continued to expand and densify networks in high-demand areas, upgrade site power solutions, invest in fibre backbone and metro networks, and optimise network performance.
“According to data published by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Nigeria crossed a major milestone in 2025, with broadband penetration exceeding 50 percent,” the ATCON president said.
“This achievement reflects sustained growth in mobile broadband, fixed wireless access, and fibre-backed connectivity across the country.
“Data consumption also reached record highs during the year, underscoring how deeply digital services have become embedded in everyday Nigerian life. From digital payments and online commerce to streaming, remote work, and cloud services, demand for connectivity continued to rise steadily.
“This progress is significant because it reinforces a fundamental truth: industry investment, not policy alone, delivered the measurable gains of 2025.”
He said government oversight through regulation and policy also contributed to the sector’s performance.
Emoekpere said the outlook for the telecom sector in 2026 is positive, driven by three reinforcing forces: industry-led expansion, regulatory alignment, and rising digital demand.
The ATCON president said operators and infrastructure providers are expected to intensify investment across several fronts.
“Accelerating fibre rollout and densification using open-access and wholesale models, deepening infrastructure sharing across towers, fibre, and power systems, expanding last-mile broadband access through FTTH, FWA, enterprise connectivity, and neutral-host solutions, increasing investment in data centres and cloud-ready infrastructure, improving network resilience, redundancy, and energy efficiency,” he said.
“These investments are being driven by strong demand signals from fintech, digital payments, cloud services, content platforms, AI workloads, and enterprise customers.”
Emoekpere said policy execution will also be critical, including the protection of telecom assets, right-of-way harmonisation, and reduction of multiple taxation — measures that encourage private-sector investment.
The ATCON boss said the association’s focus will be to champion infrastructure expansion and open-access networks, support regulatory consistency and QoS enforcement, push for RoW harmonisation and infrastructure protection, strengthen collaboration between industry, regulators, ministries, and security agencies, and amplify the voice of indigenous operators and infrastructure providers.
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