Nigeria drifts off broadband target as internet access slows

The number of Nigerians with access to high-speed internet slowed down last May as users face an economic downturn amid the covid pandemic.

The tepid rate at which infrastructure is being rolled out coupled with the 4-month ban on new SIM registrations are some of the reasons. At this pace, it means Nigeria is drifting far from the 2023 target to achieve 90 percent broadband penetration

Broadband penetration refers to the amount of the Internet access market that high speed or broadband Internet has captured in Nigeria

Data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) showed that the 39 percent is a 14 months drop as the last time the market was at that low was in March 2020. It also represents about a 1 percent loss from the previous month.

Broadband penetration in Nigeria has been in a freefall since November 2020, despite optimism by the minister of communications and Digital Economy, Ali Isa Pantami that the industry is doing well. But with broadband at 39.5 percent Nigeria is now over 50 percent adrift of a recent penetration target announced by the minister.

Earlier in June, Pantami had said the target is to grow broadband penetration to 90 percent in terms of population and 70 percent rate in terms of the total landmass in the next two years. The minister’s confidence came from a peak of 45 percent achieved in December 2020, the same month the ministry declared a ban on SIM card sales and registration in an effort to ensure that more Nigerians got their National Identification Number (NIN) within a two weeks deadline.

The plan failed, the deadline was extended four times before the government realised it would not make any meaningful progress in shutting down telcos major source of revenue. But by April when the ban on SIM registration was lifted the telecom industry had lost over 15 million subscribers and continued to lose a month after.