Nigeria’s telecommunications sector began 2025 with high expectations. Policy reforms from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), a renewed investment push from major operators and an ambitious digital agenda from the Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy suggested the country might finally narrow its connectivity gaps.
Yet, as the months passed, the promise gave way to public frustration and recurring infrastructure failures. The year became defined by a stark contradiction, in that telecom companies reported their best financial results in a decade while many consumers faced higher bills and worsening service. What was supposed to be a year of transformation became that of frustration for many.
Tariff hikes, consumer backlash
The most immediate shock to consumers was the NCC’s January approval of a 50 percent tariff increase, the first upward revision in 11 years.
Regulators argued the move was necessary to close the widening gap between rising operational costs and legacy pricing structures. Executives insisted the adjustment would stabilise the sector’s finances and underpin urgent network investment.
Aminu Maida, executive vice chairman, NCC, defended the move, saying it was necessary to “address the significant gap between operational costs and current tariffs while ensuring service delivery is not compromised.”
Read also: 50% telecom tariff hike is only a start — Edun
Operators had lobbied for a 100 percent increase, but even the approved 50 percent hike landed heavily on the wallets of ordinary Nigerians.
For operators, the outcome was dramatic. Average revenue per user (ARPU) rose noticeably, with MTN and Airtel reporting double-digit uplifts in ARPU in the first quarter (Q1).
For households and small businesses, however, the extra cost hit hard. Students, small traders and low-income earners complained that basic internet access had become significantly more expensive. Social media lit up with heated criticism, and consumer groups warned the hike risked widening the digital divide.
Record revenues, uneven payoff
While consumers tightened their belts, telecom companies enjoyed a financial renaissance. MTN reversed losses to post strong profits and service revenue jumped across major players; Airtel likewise reported robust growth in Nigeria that supported regional results.
This influx of income translated into an unprecedented capex cycle. Operators announced billions in infrastructure spending, adding sites, extending fibre and accelerating network upgrades.
The scale of investment suggested that, for the first time in years, telcos had the capital to address long-standing capacity constraints and prepare for new technologies.
Yet, despite the heavy spend, many subscribers saw little immediate improvement. The disconnect between money committed and improvements felt by users grew more pronounced as the year progressed.
Read also: Telecom sector posts 5.78% real growth in Q3 2025
Broadband ambition, missing millions
At the centre of the government’s digital ambitions was a push to dramatically expand broadband access. Minister Bosun Tijani framed 2025 around universal broadband, AI-led innovation and e-governance reforms, with a headline goal of 70 percent broadband penetration under the National Broadband Plan.
Project Bridge was envisaged as the physical backbone of that ambition, a public-private plan to more than triple the nation’s existing fibre footprint by building tens of thousands of kilometres of new open-access cable, financed through a special purpose vehicle and supported by development partners. The initiative promised to reduce costs, spur local ISPs and connect underserved local government areas.
But the broadband promise faltered. By late 2025, broadband penetration has remained well below the stated target, leaving Nigeria roughly 20 percentage points short of the 70 percent goal. Delays in trenching and deployment, higher deployment costs, regulatory snags and macroeconomic headwinds slowed Project Bridge’s timetable.
Read also: Nigeria risks missing broadband goal as reach crawls at 48%
Development finance pledges and state-level commitments failed to translate quickly into ground activity, and experts warned of the risk that new backbone capacity could be underutilised if last-mile and retail access issues were not solved simultaneously. The shortfall was not merely a technical embarrassment; it had tangible economic consequences. Slower speeds and patchy coverage curtailed e-commerce, remote learning and telehealth expansion, and the failure to hit penetration targets undermined the broader narrative of a digitally enabled growth surge.
Vandalism, fibre cuts, erosion of progress
Perhaps, the most damaging development of the year was the surge in fibre cuts and vandalism. Despite the 2024 designation of telecom assets as Critical National Information Infrastructure, sabotage accelerated across the country.
Operators reported daily incidents that knocked out multiple routes and sparked widespread outages. Tens of thousands of fibre cuts were recorded by mid-year, and many major outages were traced to vandalism or accidental damage from construction. The human and economic costs were immediate: interrupted banking transactions, failed emergency calls, and business downtime across sectors that increasingly depended on stable connectivity.
This wave of destruction forced operators to divert equipment and capital originally earmarked for expansion to emergency repairs. Network teams found spare parts consumed by restoration work rather than by planned upgrades, slowing the rollout of new capacity even as backlogs of consumer complaints grew. Regulators described the situation as a national emergency. Industry executives warned that without coordinated security responses and stronger enforcement measures, investment dollars would repeatedly be squandered fixing the same damaged assets.
Yahaya Ibrahim, MTN’s chief technology officer, warned that network upgrades were being delayed because “spare parts and equipment originally meant for capacity expansion are being used to fix damages.”
Read also: Multiple fibre cuts shut out MTN customers from calls, data
Quality rules versus ground realities
In 2024 the NCC introduced tougher Quality of Service rules intended to raise consumer protections and make operators accountable for measurable performance improvements. The regulations set demanding KPIs for complaint resolution, call completion and data throughput, and empowered the Commission to levy substantial fines.
Yet, in 2025 the noble goal of higher quality collided with operational realities. Chronic power shortages, uneven site security and the relentless tide of vandalism undermined operators’ ability to meet the new standards consistently. Enforcement relied heavily on operator reporting, limiting independent verification of improvements. Consumers grew increasingly vocal, arguing that higher prices had not yielded the promised improvements in day-to-day service. Civil society and labour groups amplified the outcry, and public trust in both operators and the regulator was dented as disputes over accountability intensified.
Rural neglect, growing divide
The geography of connectivity was another sore point. While operators focused capex on high-value urban markets, rural and peri-urban communities remained underserved. Internet access rates in rural areas lagged far behind urban centres, repair times were longer and outages more disruptive. For millions of Nigerians, the reality of 2025 was being functionally invisible to a digital economy increasingly structured around online services. The government approved new towers and programmes to address the gap, but rollout delays and financing bottlenecks meant concrete benefits lagged the rhetoric.
A crossroads for policy, investment
By year-end, the sector’s trajectory was unmistakably mixed. Tariff reforms delivered financial recovery and created capacity for large-scale investment, but the benefits were uneven and often invisible to ordinary consumers. Vandalism and power instability repeatedly eroded gains, while missed broadband targets highlighted weaknesses in planning and execution.
The events of 2025 underscored that capital alone cannot resolve systemic problems: durable progress will require stronger cross-agency coordination on security, targeted policies to encourage last-mile access and rural deployment, robust enforcement mechanisms that go beyond self-reporting, and measures to ensure consumers benefit tangibly from price adjustments.
Connectivity is not just about speed or revenue; it is about inclusion, opportunity and national prosperity.
In 2025, Nigeria learned that lesson the hard way. The year revealed both how far the sector has come and how far it still must go to build a resilient, affordable and truly national digital infrastructure.
