Telecom
Delivering on the National Broadband Plan by 2025
Network sharing as an option to drive pervasive broadband in Nigeria
By: Eniola Campbell
Broadband has long been seen as an enabler of new business processes and product innovation that can boost job creation and raise economic growth and productivity.
Eniola Campbell, Country Senior Officer and CBT Head for Nigeria at Nokia
According to the ITU, a 10% increase in mobile broadband penetration in Africa would lead to a 2.5% increase in GDP per capita.
And while Covid-19 has increased the pace at which organisations and countries digitalize, there are still many obstacles in the way of reaching pervasive broadband on the African continent.
Nigeria has the largest number of internet users on the continent, sitting at 104.4 million users in January 2021 according to Datareportal, bringing internet penetration to 50%, but local operators still face several challenges in broadband rollout.
These include prohibitive right of way charges for fiber deployment in parts of the country, unreliable power supply and the cost of running diesel generators to power sites, multiple taxation by national and sub-national governments and insecurity in many parts of the country.
Last year, the Minister for Communication and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Pantami, launched Nigeria’s 2020-2025 National Broadband Plan, an ambitious plan to deliver data download speeds of a minimum of 25Mbps in urban areas and 10Mbps in rural areas. As part of the plan at least 90% of the population will have coverage by 2025 at no more than N390 per 1GB of data.
The policy is expected to eliminate some of the impediments identified to broadband penetration. Nokia believes the increase in broadband will have a positive impact on Nigeria’s economy, especially as broadband enables digital transformation of business operations, which, in turn will bring operational efficiency and release value to businesses.
While this is a step in the right direction, it means that network operators must also consider various options in their network rollout strategies to enable them to roll out infrastructure within the timelines of the policy.
Nigeria can encourage the proliferation of network boosting initiatives to enhance coverage, capacity and ultimately improved end-user voice and data experience for telecoms subscribers.
Solutions like massive MIMO based on Active Antenna, for example, will help boost network coverage and capacity, while ensuring OPEX is also minimized as space and power will be effectively reduced by these advanced site solutions. This will be a win-win situation as telcos will experience increased revenue while delivering high quality of service (QoS) to their end users.
Nokia believes that network sharing could be an option for mobile operators as they continue to face pressure to cut the cost per bit of delivering mobile data and improve their own operational efficiencies, while reducing the cost of delivering mobile broadband.
Where it is not deemed anti-competitive in the local market, it enables operators to opt to co-operate and share network resources.
This is often done by setting up a separate joint venture entity to allow rivals to work together, or it can be managed by bringing in a neutral third party to deploy and operate the shared network in a managed services deal.
There are three different sharing models available to network operators. Passive sharing is the sharing of physical sites and passive elements such as towers and power supplies. Active Radio Access Network (RAN) sharing takes it a step further, requiring joint decision-making on investments and operations, while roaming-based sharing sees the customers of one operator seamlessly roam in a host operator’s network to plug gaps in coverage.
Due to the harsh competitive nature of the telecommunications industry, maintaining and operating a shared network can be a sensitive area for operators.
This can be overcome through a managed services approach to reduce friction and ensure that commercially sensitive data does not need to be shared.
Nokia has a proven history of providing solutions for greenfield sharing and outsourcing for sharing established networks providing governance and operational models to suit all the outlined scenarios.
Combining shared networks with managed services gives operators the best chance of realizing the maximum benefits possible.
As a leading managed services provider Nokia uses standardization, automation, and a proven operations model to deliver best-in-class services. A managed services approach will also reduce costs by outsourcing some operations, enabling the operators to exploit economies of scale that few operators could otherwise achieve.
Eniola Campbell is Country Senior Officer and CBT Head for Nigeria at Nokia
MTN Foundation has been spotlighted as a model for private sector-driven healthcare development in Nigeria, following commendations at the 6th Arthur Mbanefo Lecture held at the University of Lagos, Akoka.
Themed “A Healthy Nation is a Wealthy Nation: The Role of Impact Investments and Sustainable Financing in Nigeria,” the lecture featured Dr. Tolulope Adewole, Managing Director of NSIA Advanced Medical Services Limited (MedServe), as keynote speaker.
Dr. Adewole praised the Foundation’s strategic investments, noting that MTN commits 1% of its profit after tax annually to development sectors. “They’ve invested ₦31.75 billion, reaching over 32 million Nigerians. Though only 25% went to health, it accounted for 51% of all lives impacted. That’s catalytic,” he said.
He cited MTN’s dialysis centre programme as a transformative intervention for patients with kidney disease, and highlighted community-focused initiatives like the Y’ello Doctor mobile scheme and ‘What Can We Do Together’ (WCWDT) programme, which revitalised 164 Primary Healthcare Centres, including 44 in 2024 alone.
Executive Director of MTN Foundation, Odunayo Sanya, reflected on the COVID-19 pandemic’s exposure of systemic health vulnerabilities. “When COVID hit, we realised a health emergency is also an economic and social emergency,” she said.
Sanya revealed that of the 52 PHCs remodeled in 2024, only one had clean water. “I’m not a doctor, but I know you can’t live a good life without clean water,” she added, reaffirming the Foundation’s commitment to bridging healthcare gaps in underserved communities.
Hundreds of university students across Africa are set to benefit from a new gamified learning experience on digital rights and inclusion launched by the leading pan-African non-profit organisation, Paradigm Initiative (PIN).
The Digital Rights and Inclusion Board Learning Experience (DRIBLE) is a game developed by Paradigm Initiative with support from the Open Society Foundations (OSF). The custom-designed board game provides young individuals with a fun and engaging entry point into digital rights and inclusion conversations, training sessions and storytelling tools.
The board game aims to build digital literacy, deepen understanding of online safety, and introduce young individuals to the organisation’s tools of impact. Currently being piloted in three universities: University of Lagos, Nigeria, the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA) in Nairobi, Kenya and the Dakar American University of Science and Technology (DAUST) in Dakar, Senegal, it will enhance interactions and create a holistic experience.
Speaking at the event launch at the University of Lagos, Nigeria, ‘Gbenga Sesan, Paradigm Initiative’s Executive Director, said: “PIN’s vision is to reach 20 million people through our Digital Inclusion and Digital Rights interventions. From Lagos, to Dakar, to Nairobi.. we will use the vehicle of our new Digital Rights and Inclusion Board Learning Experience (DRIBLE) which entails using gamification, training, multimedia materials, tools and other interventions to connect African youth with digital opportunities and protect their digital rights.”
‘Gbenga gave the keynote address on “Digital inclusion at PIN, our Past, Present and Future” and Nnenna Paul-Ugochukwu, the organisation’s Chief Operating Officer, said the goal of the learning experience would be instrumental in raising awareness of digital rights among the youth, building their capacity to address digital rights and inclusion issues in their communities. Prof. Olunifesi Adekunle Suraj shared a goodwill message with the students and other stakeholders.
Paradigm Initiative, which has been operational since 2007, started in a tiny cybercafe in Ajegunle, Lagos, Nigeria. Today, the organisation has expanded its wings to cover six African countries; Cameroon, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Zambia and Zimbabwe, impacting the livelihoods of over 150,000 young Africans.
The launch of DRIBLE builds on the progress the organisation has made over the years in tackling the challenge of digital exclusion across Africa.
Paradigm Initiative’s tools of impact include Ripoti, a platform that enables individuals to report digital rights violations, Ayeta, a platform that provides digital security resources for stakeholders, more so human rights activists, defenders, journalists and other vulnerable groups, and the organisation’s latest short film, Whispers in the Wires.
Targeted at students, PIN rolled out a Campus Tour in the three universities on the continent starting July 15th, 2025.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has intensified its crackdown on fake accounts and spam, announcing it removed over 10 million fake profiles and roughly 500,000 spam accounts in the first half of 2025.
The sweeping purge is part of Meta’s broader effort to combat impersonation, fake engagement, and content duplication, aiming to elevate authentic creators and improve the quality of content across its platforms.
In a blog post, Meta said: “We’re making progress. In the first half of 2025, we took action on around 500,000 accounts engaged in spammy behaviour or fake engagement. We also removed about 10 million profiles impersonating large content producers.”
Meta stressed that accounts which primarily repost or recycle content without meaningful edits will face penalties such as reduced reach and the loss of monetisation tools.
The company also warned that repeatedly sharing unoriginal content — whether videos, photos, or text — undermines the platform’s integrity by crowding out genuine voices and making it harder for new creators to grow.
To support authentic creators, Meta is rolling out new tools that automatically trace reposted content back to its original source. The company says this will help ensure rightful credit and give higher visibility to original posts.
“Pages and profiles that post mostly original content tend to enjoy wider distribution across Facebook. Simply stitching clips together or adding a watermark will no longer count as meaningful editing. Content that provides real value and tells an authentic story is likely to perform better,” Meta explained.
Creators are also being cautioned against uploading content that includes watermarks from other platforms. Such posts could see their reach restricted or lose monetisation privileges altogether.
As part of its latest update, Meta introduced post-level insights on the Professional Dashboard, allowing creators to monitor how individual posts perform. They can also check their Support Home screen to see if their content or earnings are facing restrictions.
In a parallel development, Google’s YouTube updated its monetisation guidelines, stating that content deemed mass-produced or excessively repetitive will no longer qualify for ad revenue. The announcement initially sparked concern among creators, who feared it was a blanket ban on AI-generated content. YouTube later clarified:
“We welcome creators using AI tools to enhance their storytelling, and channels that use AI in their content remain eligible to monetise.”
Both tech giants say these new policies are aimed at raising content standards and safeguarding genuine creators in a crowded and rapidly evolving digital landscape.
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