Nigeria - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Nigeria - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Nigeria capitalises on improved internet bandwidth with data centre builds

Nigeria’s international internet capacity increased 60% in 2020, year-on-year, as the country benefitted from upgrades to existing submarine cable networks as well as improved terrestrial connectivity.

In coming years there will be additional capacity available from two more cables, which will help drive down wholesale costs for internet services. In late 2021 it was announced that the 2Africa cable will be extended to the Arabian Gulf, India, and Pakistan, bringing its total length to over 45,000km. A separate cable branch will join extensions to Angola and Nigeria. In addition, the Equiano submarine cable system being built by Google will run from Portugal to South Africa, with landing stations in Nigeria (at Lagos), the DRC, and Namibia. This cable is expected to be lit in late 2022.

Running alongside this improved infrastructure is increased investment in data centres, as Nigeria competes with other countries in the region to establish itself as an ICT hub. Africa Data Centres opened a carrier-neutral data centre (LOS1 Lagos) in November 2021, the first of four planned for the country, while in the following month Open Access Data Centres announced its commitment to invest $500 million to build more than 20 carrier-neutral data centres in the region. Two of these have already been built, one of which is in Lagos.

These developments should also go some way to improving the fixed broadband segment, which remains poorly served. With little fixed infrastructure in place, the vast majority of internet connections are via the mobile platform, and it is the MNOs which will provide most of the connectivity required to meet the government’s target of 70% broadband penetration.