Barnabas Hunjo, said modern economic activity had become heavily dependent on connectivity, extending well beyond voice calls and internet browsing
Why Protecting Telecom Infrastructure Matters to Nigeria’s Economy
The growing dependence of businesses, financial services and public institutions on digital connectivity is putting a new premium on the protection of Nigeria’s telecommunications infrastructure, with experts warning that damage to the networks can increasingly translate into disruption across the wider economy.
Speaking on Economic News on Inspiration FM, telecommunications analyst and legal practitioner, Barnabas Hunjo, said modern economic activity had become heavily dependent on connectivity, extending well beyond voice calls and internet browsing.
“When we talk about telecommunications infrastructure, we have to understand that modern economies depend heavily on connectivity,” Hunjo said, identifying point-of-sale terminals, ATMs, banking, internet services, port operations and aviation among activities that rely on telecommunications infrastructure.
“Virtually everything we do now, every business, is heavily reliant on connectivity,” he added, also pointing to the role of telecommunications infrastructure in national security.
The scale of that dependence is becoming clearer as Nigeria’s digital activity expands. Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) data showed that active telephone subscriptions reached 195.11 million in July 2026, taking national teledensity to about 90 per cent. Data usage also reached a record 1.66 million terabytes that month, up from 1.53 million TB in June.
The figures point to an economy increasingly operating through digital networks. Payments, banking transactions, business communications, online commerce, education and other services now depend not only on the availability of telecommunications services, but also on the physical infrastructure carrying them.
That infrastructure includes base stations, fibre-optic cables, data centres, submarine cables and internet landing points. The Federal Government has designated telecommunications infrastructure as Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII), with the framework intended to ensure the continued operation and protection of infrastructure considered critical to economic development, national security, public health and government operations.
But the challenge is that the physical network remains vulnerable.
The NCC disclosed in August that more than 5,000 fibre-cut incidents had been recorded in the first six months of 2026, largely linked to road construction, excavation and related civil works. The Commission said the damage could disrupt banking, government services, education, healthcare, commerce, security and emergency communications.
For an economy increasingly dependent on digital transactions, the implications can extend beyond temporary inconvenience.
The NCC recalled that fibre cuts in February 2024 contributed to an almost network-wide disruption for one operator, affecting millions of users for several hours and putting additional pressure on other networks. The Commission has subsequently been pushing for stronger coordination between telecom operators, road contractors, government agencies and other stakeholders to prevent such incidents.
Hunjo argues that the issue now requires a clearer division of responsibility among government institutions.
“We need to come up with a breakdown of who does what, and how do we respond quickly to threats affecting this critical infrastructure,” he said.
He noted that security agencies would need clearly defined responsibilities, including mechanisms through which reports of threats to telecommunications assets could be directed to the appropriate authority.
For Hunjo, however, the responsibility does not end with government.
He called on Nigerians to recognise their stake in the infrastructure, arguing that members of the public should report threats and suspicious activity affecting telecom assets.
“We cannot keep quiet,” he said. “We must also understand that our lives depend, our businesses, virtually like they say, data is life.”
The argument assumes greater significance against the scale of private investment now going into telecommunications infrastructure.
MTN Nigeria, for instance, invested about N1 trillion in network capacity in 2025, more than double the N443.5 billion it invested in network infrastructure in 2024, according to the company’s reported figures. The investment was directed towards strengthening network capacity and service quality as data demand increased.
The wider industry is also expanding its physical footprint. NCC data for the second quarter of 2026 showed 176,468 fibre-to-the-X subscriptions for MTN alone, as fixed broadband becomes another part of the connectivity infrastructure supporting homes and businesses.
That investment is being driven by a structural shift in how Nigerians use telecommunications. NCC data shows that monthly internet usage rose from 1.13 million TB in July 2025 to 1.66 million TB in July 2026. Active internet subscriptions stood at 157.7 million in July 2026.
The more services migrate online, therefore, the more consequential the physical network becomes.
The NCC has itself described communications infrastructure as a “critical national lifeline”, warning that damage to fibre networks can result in failed calls, stalled payments, interrupted services and lost economic opportunities. The Commission has also established a standing committee involving the ministries responsible for works and communications, with the Office of the National Security Adviser brought into the process because of the security implications of protecting telecommunications infrastructure.
Hunjo said operators also had a role to play through collaboration and engagement with government.
His argument is that protection of the infrastructure should increasingly be treated as a shared responsibility, involving operators, regulators, security agencies, contractors, government and the communities around telecom assets.
That approach would shift the conversation from simply repairing damaged networks to preventing damage in the first place.
For Nigeria, where digital payments, mobile commerce, financial services and other economic activities are expanding alongside data consumption, protecting the infrastructure that enables connectivity is becoming inseparable from protecting the economic activity that depends on it.
