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By Sonny Aragba-Akpore

Despite the rising depletion of data used by subscribers,the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says there is nothing to worry about.

It has however asked network operators to audit their networks to have an understanding about what is really wrong.
While subscribers groan over the data depletion and the associated poor services,the NCC claimed that broadband penetration peaked at 45% in January 2025.
NCC said that in January 2025, figures showed Nigeria’s broadband penetration stood at 45.61%, with a surge in internet usage driven by rising demand for digital services, though infrastructure and costs remain challenges.

This is still below the 70 % mark, despite a surge in data usage.
The NCC reports that mobile internet subscriptions stood at 141.67 million, while broadband subscriptions were 98.88 million in January 2025.

Internet usage has seen a significant increase, reaching an all-time high of 1,000,930 terabytes in January 2025.
This surge is driven by increased reliance on digital services like video streaming, social media, remote work, and fintech innovations.

The rise is stifled by Poor infrastructure and high phone and internet costs as major issues, according to Global System of Mobile Communications Association (GSMA).
Only about 29 percent of Nigerians (about 58 million) use the internet regularly.
What this means is that attaining 70% broadband penetration by 2025 is a pipe dream especially taking into consideration infrastructure deficit and poor network penetration leading to just 29% internet connectivity.
The Federal Government sought to address the country’s significant broadband penetration gap by implementing the National Broadband Plan (NBP 2020-2025).
The NBP aims to achieve a broadband penetration target of 70% and population coverage of 90% by 2025.

The Nigerian Broadband Alliance for Nigeria (NBAN) initiative brings together government agencies, private sector leaders, non-profits, and civil society to accelerate broadband penetration in Nigeria.
The NCC is driving this and supporting high-speed broadband connectivity through various initiatives.

These include licensing InfraCos, licensing 2.3GHz spectrum for wholesale wireless last-mile services, and streamlining regulatory processes.
But the Infracos initiative remains in the box despite huge financial incentives to actualise it.
In 2020 when the NCC initiated the National Broadband Plan (NBP)a 25-man committee, headed by Ms. Funke Opeke, Managing Director/CEO of Main One Cable Company Limited, was inaugurated to coordinate the development of the new National Broadband Plan.

The plan was focused on recommendations in four critical pillars: Infrastructure, Policy, Demand Drivers, and Funding & Incentives.
The plan was officially launched by Dr. Isa Ali Pantami, Nigeria’s Minister for Communication and Digital Economy, in March 2020 at that time.

The plan was to ensure that the price of 1GB of data was not more than N390 (2% of median income or 1% of minimum wage).

The NBP 2020-2025 aimed to increase broadband penetration to 70% and ensure 90% of the population had access to affordable and reliable internet, with data speeds of at least 25Mbps in urban areas and 10Mbps in rural areas.

The goal was to boost broadband penetration from its coverage of 37.8% in 2020 to over 70% within five years(2025).
Its aim was to ensure that at least 90% of Nigeria’s population had access to affordable and reliable broadband.
The plan aimed to deliver data download speeds of at least 25Mbps in urban areas and 10Mbps in rural areas.

Despite the crisis of trying to actualise the 70% broadband penetration by 2025 ,government launched the Nigerian Broadband Alliance in February 2025 but acknowledged the problems.

“Many of the networks remain underutilised. In numerous parts of the country, the capacity of existing fibre infrastructure far exceeds the demand. This is primarily due to a lack of access to necessary infrastructure in unserved and underserved areas, compounded by significant barriers to broadband adoption.

“These barriers include limited access to devices, lack of awareness, inadequate digital literacy, cumbersome regulatory processes, and power supply challenges. This underutilisation of existing infrastructure hinders our digital transformation and also negatively impacts the return on investment. This creates a vicious cycle—one that we must break in order to realise the full potential of broadband and its contribution to our digital economy.”
In his keynote address, Dr. ‘Bosun Tijani, the Minister of Communications, Innovation & Digital Economy, who was represented at the event by Dr. Aminu Maina, Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), said, “Despite our collective goals of achieving 70 per cent broadband penetration by 2025; Delivering minimum data speeds of 25 Mbps in urban areas and 10 Mbps in rural areas; Expanding population coverage to 80 per cent by 2027; Increasing broadband investments by 300–500 per cent by 2027, including the growing availability of fibre networks, Nigeria faces an unfortunate paradox.

The National Broadband Alliance for Nigeria (NBAN) initiative brought together government agencies, private sector leaders, non-profits, and civil society to accelerate broadband penetration in Nigeria. It aims to transform broadband into a catalyst for socio-economic development by aggregating demand across key sectors including educational institutions, healthcare facilities, religious centres, and markets.

The event was attended by representatives of the private and public sector agencies including Dr. Vincent Olatunji, National Commissioner/CEO, Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC); Prof. Ibrahim Adeyanju, MD/CEO, Galaxy Backbone Limited; Jane Egerton-Idehen, MD/CEO, Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT); and Tola Odeyemi, Postmaster General/CEO, Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST).
There were 37.2 fixed broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants in Europe in 2024, the highest figure among global regions. The Americas recorded the second-highest broadband penetration rate at 26.6 subscriptions, while the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) region had 25.3.

Meanwhile, Africa continues to lag far behind, with less than one fixed subscription per 100 people. Fixed wireless access (FWA) technology has been highlighted as a potential solution to Africa’s lack of fixed infrastructure, allowing the delivery of high-speed internet without the need for fixed networks.
As of 2023, Africa had the lowest Broadband Penetration Rate globally, averaging around 28% [World Bank]. However, several countries, including South Africa (70%) and Morocco (52%), boast higher rates than Nigeria [DataReportal, April 2024].

European nations generally enjoy much higher Broadband Penetration Rates. Leading countries include Iceland (99.8%), Finland (98.4%), and Denmark (98.2%) [Speedtest Global Index, 2024].
North America: North American countries like Canada (94.2%) and the United States (93.7%) have exceptionally high Broadband Penetration Rates according to Speedtest Global Index, 2024.