Anambra state has recorded one of the fastest broadband expansions in Nigeria, with fibre optic cables now reaching households in semi-urban communities that were previously unconnected.
According to Mr. Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata (CFA), the managing director of the Anambra State ICT Agency, the breakthrough is directly tied to governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo’s deliberate policy decisions and personal engagement with telecom operators.
Agbata at an interactive session with media executives in Lagos, revealed that the game-changer was the governor’s progressive Right-of-Way (RoW) policy, which drastically reduced costs and bureaucratic delays for infrastructure providers.
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“When ISPs begin travelling to Anambra on their own without being begged, it shows they see good policy and a viable market,” Agbata said.
Under previous administrations, telecom companies faced steep RoW charges and multiple taxation that stalled fibre deployment. Governor Soludo scrapped or harmonised those fees and issued clear directives that infrastructure providers should be treated as partners, not revenue targets.
The result is that major operators and smaller ISPs voluntarily accelerated their rollout schedules across the state.
Agbata disclosed that the governor personally interfaced with top telecom executives, building trust and securing commitments for rapid deployment. “Relationships matter,” he stressed, citing instances where direct collaboration with industry leaders led to quick fixes and new infrastructure in record time.
Today, reliable fibre-to-the-home connections are reaching communities that, just a few years ago, were considered commercially unviable. “More households in semi-urban areas now enjoy stable, high-speed internet, something that was almost impossible before now,” Agbata noted.
The broadband surge is also laying the foundation for Anambra’s broader digital agenda. With wider connectivity, the state is pushing ahead with plans for a local Internet Exchange Point (IXP) targeted for 2026, which will keep local traffic within Anambra and further reduce costs and latency.
Agbata emphasised that Soludo’s approach, combining investor-friendly policies with hands-on industry engagement, has turned Anambra into a preferred destination for telecom investment.
“If we fully deploy just 20 percent of the relationships we have cultivated within and outside the country, Anambra would be on another level,” he said.
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The rapid broadband expansion is now recognised nationally, contributing to Anambra ranking number one in the Southeast for ease of doing business and transparency, according to BudgIT and other bodies.
Through a combination of bold policy reform and strategic relationship-building, Governor Soludo has achieved in a short time what many states are still struggling to deliver: widespread, affordable, high-speed internet reaching beyond the cities into the heart of Anambra communities.
