Nigeria’s telecommunications operators have invested a combined M4 trillion in network infrastructure over the past two years, but rising energy costs, fibre vandalism and an unreliable power grid continue to undermine the returns on that spending, Gbenga Adebayo, chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), has said.
Adebayo, who spoke at the weekend, said operators deployed approximately N2.13 trillion in capital expenditure in 2025, with a further N1.86 trillion committed for 2026. The figures, which ALTON first disclosed in June while responding to the National Bureau of Statistics Q1 2026 Capital Importation Report, cover spending by mobile network operators, tower companies and other industry players on network upgrades, capacity expansion and infrastructure resilience.
ALTON had challenged the NBS report at the time, noting that the bureau’s figures captured only foreign capital inflows into the sector, which fell sharply from $80.78 million in 2025 to $7.24 million in Q1 2026, and did not reflect the scale of domestic capital and reinvested earnings driving actual infrastructure deployment.
The investment has translated into physical network growth. Operators deployed more than 5,000 new network sites in 2026, according to NCC figures, extending coverage in underserved communities and adding transmission capacity along major corridors.
Adebayo said the investment was continuous and forward-looking. “The industry is not investing simply to maintain yesterday’s network; it is investing to accommodate tomorrow’s demand,” he noted.
The telecommunications sector contributes more than 14 percent of Nigeria’s gross domestic product and supports millions of livelihoods across a digital ecosystem that spans mobile payments, e-commerce and remote services. The Federal Government recognised the sector’s cost pressures in 2025 when it approved a 50 per cent tariff adjustment, the first significant increase in years.
Yet that spending is being eroded by what Adebayo described as an increasingly hostile operating environment. “Between February and September 2026, the average cost of diesel increased from approximately N978 to N2,050 per litre, an increase of about 110 percent he said, adding that interest rates averaged approximately 28 per cent in 2025.
Energy costs are a particular burden. Industry data shows that Nigerian telecom operators consume over 40 million litres of diesel monthly to power base stations and network facilities. MTN Nigeria, the country’s largest operator, disclosed in its Q1 2026 results that it spent more than N60 billion on diesel in 2025 alone and warned of a potential 1.8 to 2.0 percentage point decline in full-year EBITDA margins if diesel prices averaged N2,000 per litre in the second half of 2026.
From ALTON’s own assessment, power-related challenges account for approximately 40 per cent of quality-of-service incidents across the industry. A further 29 per cent are attributed to fibre-optic cable disruptions caused by road construction, excavation, vandalism and theft, while security-related incidents account for approximately 7 per cent.
The fibre crisis has intensified in 2026. NCC data shows that operators recorded 5,934 fibre cuts in the first quarter of the year alone, translating to roughly 66 incidents every day. In January alone, fibre cuts jumped by 900 per cent compared with the previous month, suggesting the problem was accelerating rather than stabilising.
One telco alone reported 9,218 fibre cuts in 2025, approximately 25 per day, with Lagos and the Federal Capital Territory among the worst-hit locations. Aminu Maida, NCC executive vice chairman, has pushed for stronger enforcement of Critical National Information Infrastructure protections, but operators say enforcement remains weak.
For Adebayo, the numbers tell a clear story.
“An operator may deploy additional transmission capacity, upgrade a base station and increase its bandwidth, but a power outage due to vandalism or a fibre cut along the transmission route can still disrupt service. The industry is not asking for sympathy or exemption from accountability. We are asking for an environment in which investment can deliver its intended benefits.”
He noted that operators had maintained their capital spending commitments despite the unfavourable conditions but warned that the trajectory was unsustainable. “There is a limit to how long any industry can absorb cost increases of this magnitude while maintaining the pace of investment the country requires,” he said.
“The question is whether the operating environment will improve quickly enough to sustain the current level of deployment,” he added.
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