Telecom
Council Seeks Accelerated Implementation of Broadband Plan

Broadband Council at its regular quarterly meeting held earlier this month acknowledged the progress made on the implementation of the Broadband Plan in the last 18 months, while seeking speedy implementation of other strategic programmes.
The high-ranked broadband implementation council in the country commended especially the increased capacity rolled out by telcos and other infrastructure providers which had resulted in a 2% increase in broadband penetration in 2014.
The Council chaired by Dr Omobola Johnson, minister of Communication Technology, evaluated the outlined milestones of the broadband plan and called for accelerated implementation.
The Council also noted the successful auction of the 2.3GHz spectrum, licensing of the first two Infracos for metro fibre rollout and called on successful bidders to quickly rollout to improve the pace of implementation.
Council commended the trial of TV White Spaces approved by NCC/NBC –geared at reducing cost of internet access.
Council also commended the Telecoms Operators for their leadership in the area of base station infrastructure sharing and deployment and resolved that this needed to be extended to fibre.
Of particular concern to the Council, and the subject of extensive discussion during the meeting was the need to increase the landing points of international submarine cables beyond Lagos to other coastal states.
Additional landing points in the country would not only reduce vulnerability and risks associated with a single point of failure but would make it faster and cheaper to lay terrestrial cable from these points to other parts of the country.
The Council called on the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) to look into the possibility of providing financial incentives to accelerate this.
It acknowledged that some milestones were missed due to schedule delays.
Council resolved that Bitflux needs to accelerate pace of rollout and NCC should aim to release 2.6GHz in the first quarter of 2015.
Council at the meeting also reviewed progress on the Ministry’s Smart State initiative aimed at getting concessions from State governments (right of way reductions, standardization on levies and charges on telco infrastructure)
States that had signed the MoU on the Smart State Initiative with the Ministry were singled out by the Council for commendation and other States yet to join were urged to do so to accelerate the pace of broadband infrastructure rollout within their States.
Bayelsa, Ondo, Katsina, FCT, Lagos and Cross Rivers State are Smart States while Anambra, Delta, Gombe and Osun State have agreed to become Smart States.
Also, Council reiterated that the Smart States initiative geared at engaging authorities at the state and local government level to address the issue of multiple taxations will accelerate the roll out of critical infrastructure across Nigeria and help Nigeria meet its broadband target of a five -fold increase by 2017.
Council also resolved that the Nigeria Internet Registration Association, NiRA must reduce cost of .NG to be globally competitive.
Council proposed that to accelerate the uptake of.NG domains NITDA would close the funding gap in NiRA if pent up demand did not result in the anticipated high levels of uptake. Council members were tasked with following up on this resolution.
In recognition of the crucial role broadband plays in inclusive development and in a bid to increase awareness and drive demand, the Council acknowledged the work of online market spaces in encouraging SMEs to bring their products/services online and urged SMEDAN to fund or drive an awareness campaign that will get many more SMES online.
Recalling that the Broadband Council at its 4th meeting pushed for increased 3G coverage to 50% of the Nigerian population by the end of 2015, the Council commended the USPF for the timely completion of its ICT Access Gap Study and concluded this would further help operators to service latent demand.
Council stressed that the significant work by the USPF has given real empirical data to the issue of which areas of the country have connectivity.
The Council members scored overall progress as good but needing acceleration on items such as pricing and metro fibre.
Following the recent announcement of the Infraco License winners the NCC’s work on Wholesale and Cost Based Pricing to improve the affordability of access to the internet would soon be available.
Council concluded that progress was still too slow and challenged the ICT industry to see to it that the broadband plan targets were met.
The Broadband Council inaugurated on the 16th of July 2013 is made up of 19 members chaired by Dr Omobola Johnson.
The Council charged with the responsibility of monitoring implementation modalities for the approved Nigerian National Broadband Plan 2013 – 2018 has been working to ensure that Nigeria achieves a five-fold increase in broadband penetration by 2017/2018.
Telecom
Telcos Resume SIM Card Sales after 2-Week Halt

Telecommunications operators have resumed full SIM swap and related services following a four-week nationwide outage linked to the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC)’s migration to a new verification platform.
The outage rendered millions of subscribers unable to perform SIM-related tasks such as swaps, replacements, and activations.
Operators in the industry say the disruption began on June 26, 2025 when telcos temporarily halted SIM registrations and swaps due to unforeseen technical challenges during the transition to NIMC’s upgraded identity verification system.
The migration was mandated to enhance the integrity and efficiency of national identity management but caused major service interruptions across all Nigerian networks.
However, July 21, both MTN and Airtel confirmed via their social media handles that SIM swap services have now fully resumed.
MTN announced: “SIM swaps have now resumed. We can confirm that NIMC services are fully operational and appreciate their support in the migration to a new platform for NIN verification services for the telecommunications industry.
In a public update issued via its MTN Nigeria Support handle on X (formerly Twitter), MTN confirmed that SIM swaps have now resumed.
Telecom operators complained that the portal was unreliable or inaccessible, which resulted in the suspension of SIM swaps, number porting, and new SIM registrations, even though NIMC maintained that the platform was operating as intended.
Unexpected technical difficulties arose during the switch to the new platform, according to the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria.
Real-time NIN verification for SIM registration, replacement, and network migration was impacted by these issues.
“Unexpected technical difficulties have surfaced, impacting real-time NIN verification for SIM registration, replacement, and porting, following a recent directive from the National Identity Management Commission mandating Mobile Network Operators to transit to a new identity verification platform,” ALTON stated in a previous joint statement signed by Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, and Damian Udeh, publicity secretary.
Telecom
Nigeria, Others Achieve 84% Adult Mobile Phones Penetration

The World Bank has affirmed that 84 per cent of adults in low-and middle-income economies, including Nigeria, own personal mobile phones.
The bank in its Global Findex 2025 report said mobile phone ownership was widespread and nearly everywhere. It said data from the Global Findex 2025 Digital Connectivity Tracker, revealed that “86 per cent of adults worldwide, and 84 per cent of adults in low- and middle-income economies, own personal mobile phones.”
The report pointed out that mobile phones and the internet had become widespread and essential to daily life in every economy around the world.
A earlier overview had indicated that Nigeria had a high mobile phone penetration rate, with estimates around 85 per cent to 87 per cent in 2024.
This translates to over 200 million mobile connections, making Nigeria a leading market in Africa for mobile phone ownership and usage. While the overall penetration is high, there’s a growing trend towards smartphone adoption, with forecasts predicting over 140 million smartphone users by 2025.
According to DataReporter, a total of 150 million cellular mobile connections were active in Nigeria in early 2025, with this figure equivalent to 64.0 per cent of the total population.
However, note that some of these connections may only include services such as voice and SMS, and some may not include access to the internet.
There were 107 million individuals using the internet in Nigeria at the start of 2025, when online penetration stood at 45.4 percent. Nigeria was home to 38.7 million social media user identities in January 2025, equating to 16.4 percent of the total population.
These headline stats offer a great overview of the “state of digital” in Nigeria at the start of 2025, but in order to make sense of how digital trends and behaviours have been evolving over time, we need to dig deeper into the data.
According to the World Bank, “as of 2024, individual ownership of mobile phones reached 86 per cent of adults worldwide.
“For many people, barely an hour goes by without their using a mobile device to make a call, ext a friend, read the news, access business information, post a meme on social media, pay for something, play a game, engage with a colleague or a customer, or search for information.
“As access to and use of digitally connected technologies increase, people, businesses, and governments place an increasingly high priority on online interactions. “Digitally connected technologies have clear, well-documented benefits.”
It further highlighted that access to mobile phones and the internet was associated with reduced poverty, increased consumption, and more employment for individuals in lowand middle-income economies.
“Women also experience these benefits, as internet access enables access to flexible jobs3 and has been shown to increase female labor force participation. “Mobile phones also facilitate information sharing.
For instance, in agricultural contexts, farmers’ access to real-time prices and buyer demand data can inform their decisions on where to sell, enhancing market efficiency and reducing the distances they would otherwise travel to get the best return for their product and time.
“Internet access also helps create jobs and aids individuals and countries in exporting goods and services,” it added. The World Bank further noted that owning a mobile phone furthermore enabled financial access through mobile money and other mobile financial services.
It added that these financial accounts and services, typically offered by mobile network operators or fintech firms and accessed via networks of local agents, were associated with lower rates of poverty, increased consumption and savings,and greater resilience to economic shocks.
Telecom
Sophos Secures Leadership Spot in 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection

Sophos, a global leader of innovative security solutions for defeating cyberattacks, today announced that it has been named a Leader in the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms (EPP), marking the 16th consecutive time the company has received this recognition.
Sophos has been recognized in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms (EPP) since the inaugural publication for this category in 2007.
Sophos’ market-leading endpoint security solutions include Sophos Endpoint powered by Intercept X, Sophos Extended Detection and Response (EDR/XDR), and Sophos Managed Detection and Response (MDR).
Over 300,000 organizations trust Sophos endpoint security solutions to defend against cyberthreats, including advanced remote ransomware attacks and active adversaries.
Unique to Sophos, the solution includes adaptive defenses that automatically disrupt attackers by dynamically adjusting protection levels based on threat context.
“Sophos’ strength lies in its prevention-first strategy, designed to stop breaches before they start, adapt defenses in real time, and strengthen detection and response when it matters most,” said Kyle Falkenhagen, SVP, Product Management, Sophos. “We believe that receiving this recognition in the highly competitive endpoint security market for 16 consecutive reports reflects our relentless focus on developing innovative solutions that stay ahead of the global threat landscape and the adversaries we face every day.”
Sophos and Secureworks: The future of protection, detection, and response
Following Sophos’ acquisition of Secureworks in February 2025, combining two leading and complementary portfolios to offer a comprehensive suite of solutions for small, midmarket and enterprise organizations.
Secureworks Taegis XDR customers can use Sophos Endpoint to elevate their cyber defenses, at no additional charge, delivering both improved protection and return on investment.
The integration of Secureworks also adds a new Counter Threat Unit (CTU) to the Sophos X-Ops advanced threat response joint task force, further expanding the rich threat intelligence that informs all customers’ defenses.
Backed by Sophos’ advanced security technologies and a broad network of intelligence contacts and partners, the CTU plays a critical role in identifying and tracking threat actors and analyzing anomalous activity, uncovering new attack techniques, threats, and major shifts in the threat landscape.
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