Nigeria ICT

The Nigerian government has launched a series of initiatives to bolster its information and communications technology (ICT) sector. These efforts take the form of major investment programmes and partnerships to help the sector address some of the challenges that have been stifling its growth.

A new draft National Information and Communications Technology ICT Policy, released in January, aims to bring together all of Nigeria’s related technology policy under a single statute, overhauling outdated regulations to better manage the country’s dramatic growth in computer and internet usage over the past decade.

Two new submarine fibre-optic cables have gone on-line in Nigeria in the past two years, with a third set to land in June. While this should eventually improve the nation’s spotty internet access, customers are still waiting to reap the benefits of increased bandwidth and lower prices. Nonetheless telecoms operators are switching over to the fourth generation (4G) platform to accommodate future expected demand for data services.

Nigeria’s access to the internet has long been hampered by a shortage of bandwidth, but a trio of new undersea cables is set to greatly improve the country’s connectivity. The first of these went active in July, promising cheaper and more reliable access for the Nigerian market.