Nigeria’s Telecom Sector Attracts $991M in FDI

Reports has shown that, Foreign investors have poured $991 million into Nigeria’s telecommunications sector over the past three years under the present and past government administrations. The investment figures have seen ups and downs, with a significant rise in 2024 followed by a drop in 2025 due to broader economic pressures which had affected it.

From the statistical breakdown from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) published by the NCC which shows that FDI was $134.755 million in 2023 and $399.906 million in 2022. In 2024, inflows reached roughly $456.590 million.

Also based on statistics from the NCC’s Policy, Competition, and Economic Analysis Department under Subscriber/Network Performance. Also from the report, the number of internet users rose from 154.848 million in December 2022 to 163.838 million in December 2023, a 5.81 percent growth and an additional 8.991 million subscriptions over the study period.

In December 2023, the broadband penetration has dropped from 47.36 percent in December 2022 to 43.71 percent. Nevertheless, as of December 2023, there were 94.757 million broadband subscriptions, up from 90.399 million in December 2022. The Commission changed the population figure used to calculate the indicator, which is why the broadband penetration rate has decreased.

The total number of active internet subscriptions dropped from 163.838 million as of December 2023 to 139.282 million as of December 2024, a fall of 24.556 million and 14.98 percent over the time under consideration.

The research further stated that the effective implementation of the NIN-SIM (National Identity Number-Subscriber Identity Module) policy and the rectification of counts of a major Mobile Network Operator (MNO) are also essentially responsible for the decline.

With better coverage of 3G, 4G, and 5G at 89%, 84%, and 13%, respectively, the research indicated that broadband penetration has continued to rise, if slightly, in 2024. From 43.71 percent in December 2023 to 44.43 percent in December 2024, the percentage of people with broadband grew.

Some challenges that might have affected the ups and downs on the FDI between 2022 and 2024 are; 

• Instability of Macroeconomics: The over-time depreciation of the Naira, inflation, and foreign currency (FX) volatility have a major impact on operating costs and the capacity to acquire necessary equipment.
• Operational Obstacles: State governments’ high Right of Way (RoW) fees, multiple taxes imposed, and multiple infrastructure vandalism across the country continue to be significant issues that discourage investors.
• Regulatory Obstacles: When policies like the NIN-SIM linkage were successfully implemented, the number of active subscribers initially decreased, this was a factor that  had impacted on operator revenue streams.

And based on the state of the market, there are two significant companies that control the majority of the market as of 2025. These telecom companies are MTN with more than 51% of the market, where it is having the biggest share by percentage and Airtel, with over 34% of the market. Airtel happens to be the second-biggest operator.

Other players, including T2 (formerly 9mobile) and Globacom, also maintain substantial and minor percentage stakes.