Nigeria Accelerates Fibre-to-the-Home Deployment

The Nigeria — Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has called for accelerated Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) deployment, emphasizing its critical role in Nigeria's ambition to achieve a $1 trillion economy. Dr. Aminu Maida, the NCC Executive Vice Chairman, highlighted the importance of resilient fiber infrastructure for education, healthcare, commerce, and financial services during the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria's (ATCON) Critical Conversation Forum on FTTH. Despite significant internet subscriptions and broadband penetration, fixed broadband remains underdeveloped with only about 265,000 FTTH subscriptions. Major barriers include Right-of-Way bottlenecks, multiple permits, vandalism, poor deployment standards, and weak coordination. The NCC has inaugurated an Ease of Doing Business Portal and is assessing the wholesale broadband market to promote competition. The Federal Government's Project BRIDGE aims to deploy 90,000 kilometers of fiber-optic cable across Nigeria. Tony Emoekpere, ATCON President, advocated for stronger infrastructure sharing and common deployment standards.