NCC pledges to bridge Nigeria’s digital divide, decries 48.81% broadband penetration

Nigerian Communications Commission on Wednesday said that as of August 2025, Nigeria’s broadband penetration stood at roughly 48.81 per cent. NCC chief Aminu Maida said this while delivering his keynote address at the Rural Connectivity Summit in Lagos. The Rural Connectivity Summit, which is the first edition in Nigeria, had the theme ‘Rethinking Digital Connectivity to Unlock Rural Economic Potentials’. Mr Maida said further that urban areas in Nigeria enjoyed up to 57 per cent internet access, while rural communities lagged significantly at only 23 per cent. In line with Nigeria’s National Broadband Plan 2020-2025, the nation is expected to achieve a 70% broadband penetration rate by the end of 2025. Mr Maida further stated that the 2025 International Telecommunication Union’s ICT Development Index ranked the country 137th out of 164 economies, with a score of 52.9. He noted that the score was an improvement from 46.9 in 2024. He decried this poor ranking, saying it was due to persistent gaps in internet usage (39.2 per cent) and household access (40.1 per cent) Mr Maida said in his address titled ‘Leaving Nobody Behind: Leveraging Regulatory Advantages to Bridge Nigeria’s Digital Divide’, that he was reaffirming NCC’s commitment to bridging the country’s stark urban-rural digital divide. He said that a 10 per cent increase in broadband penetration could drive a 1.38 per cent rise in GDP in developing economies.
“Over 45 per cent of Nigeria’s population lie in rural areas, yet they face systemic exclusion from digital opportunities, broadband penetration, and digital lag. The accurate measure of connectivity is not in megabits per second, but in the economic value it creates or loses. A community without digital connectivity is functionally invisible, cut off from modern education, global markets, specialised healthcare, and opportunity,” he said. Mr Maida said the NCC’s regulatory and financial intervention was a multi-pronged approach to combating the divide, driven by its Universal Service Provision Fund.
He announced the recent launch of the Nigeria Digital Connectivity Index on October 9, an annual public scorecard designed to measure each state’s digital readiness and foster accountability. Mr Maida added that the telecommunications sector recorded about 19,384 fibre cuts, 3,241 equipment thefts, and over 19,000 denials of access to sites between January and August 2025 alone. To counter this, he noted that the NCC championed the Critical National Information Infrastructure Presidential Order, signed in June 2024, which empowered law enforcement to combat vandalism. He urged state governments to continue adopting Zero Right of Way policies and appealed to communities to protect telecom assets, viewing them as their “bridge between backwardness and global relevance.” NAN