FG Rolls Out 90,000km Fibre Optic Network to Improve Internet and Communication Quality

The Federal Government of Nigeria will begin laying a 90,000-kilometre fibre optic network within weeks. Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy Dr Bosun Tijani announced the move on Tuesday after briefing President Bola Tinubu at the State House in Abuja. The project, known as Project BRIDGE, aims to cover every state, geopolitical zone, local government area and ward. Officials say all funding and contractual processes are complete. The goal is clearer: raise the quality of connectivity, expand broadband access and accelerate the digital economy for millions of Nigerians still stuck with patchy service.

Why This Fibre Rollout Matters Now

Nigeria already has more than 101,000 kilometres of fibre optic cable in the ground, according to Nigerian Communications Commission data analysed in mid-2026. Yet nearly 18 percent of that capacity sits in Lagos and Abuja alone. Large parts of the country remain thinly covered. Many users still rely on congested mobile networks that drop calls and crawl during peak hours.

Project BRIDGE targets that imbalance. It will add 90,000 kilometres of open-access wholesale fibre. The design features seven regional backbone rings linking the six geopolitical zones and Lagos, plus points of presence in all 774 local government areas. From those hubs the network is meant to reach wards, schools, hospitals and communities.

Tijani put it plainly after the Tinubu briefing: “We’re now at the point where, in a few weeks’ time, we should start to lay those fibre, so people will start seeing us around the country deploying the fibre. This is going to transform Nigeria for good.” He added that every state, zone, local government and ward will be covered, transforming the quality of connectivity.

The communications sector’s contribution to GDP has risen from 16-18 percent to nearly 21 percent under the current administration, Tijani noted, helped by reforms that designated digital infrastructure as Critical National Infrastructure, adjusted tariffs and harmonised taxes.

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How End-Users and Industry Stand to Gain

For ordinary users the difference should show up in reliability and speed. Fibre handles higher data volumes with lower latency than most current mobile links. Students in secondary towns, small businesses processing payments, and clinics uploading records could move from intermittent 3G or overloaded 4G to more consistent service once last-mile connections follow the backbone.

Industry players, especially smaller internet service providers, stand to benefit from the open-access model. Today many ISPs must lease capacity from larger mobile operators, raising costs and limiting competition. A national wholesale network reduces that dependency and should encourage more fibre-to-the-home deployments. Nigeria still has only about 265,000 Fibre-to-the-Home subscriptions despite over 154 million internet subscriptions, NCC figures show. Backbone expansion alone will not fix that, but it removes one major barrier.

Aminu Maida, Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, has stressed the point. Extending the backbone by approximately 90,000 kilometres is expected to expand broadband availability, improve network resilience and extend high-capacity connectivity to all 774 Local Government Areas. “Fibre infrastructure is now foundational to Nigeria’s digital economy, inclusive growth and global competitiveness,” Maida said.

Alongside the fibre, the government plans to begin deploying about 3,700 telecommunications towers from October. Those towers target more than 20 million Nigerians in underserved communities. An alphanumeric postcode system is also scheduled for launch on 1 October, giving every property a unique address to support e-commerce, logistics and public services.

Comparing to Existing Networks and African Peers

Private operators have already built substantial fibre, pushing the national total past 100,000 kilometres. The problem is concentration and fragmentation. Lagos holds over 11,500 kilometres while some northern and smaller states have under 1,000 kilometres. Redundancy is limited, so a single cut can disrupt wide areas. In April and May 2026 alone operators recorded more than 155,000 fibre cuts, many linked to vandalism.

Project BRIDGE is designed differently. It is wholesale and open-access rather than operator-owned. It aims to connect existing networks, add routes for resilience and push deeper into underserved zones. Officials have described the finished network as expanding the national footprint to around 125,000 kilometres, positioning Nigeria among the longer terrestrial backbones on the continent after South Africa and Egypt in earlier comparisons.

The pace required is aggressive. Implementation documents call for roughly 17,500 kilometres in the first year, then 25,000 kilometres annually in subsequent years, averaging about 62 kilometres per day over the active construction period and peaking near 80-90 kilometres daily if weather or logistics compress the window. That scale tests engineering capacity, right-of-way coordination and security.

Wider Implications for Nigeria’s Digital Future

Successful delivery would support higher broadband penetration targets, currently around 55 percent and aiming higher toward 70 percent in coming years. World Bank analysis cited by officials links a 10 percent rise in broadband penetration to roughly 1.4-2.5 percent additional GDP growth. Officials also project tens of thousands of direct and indirect jobs during construction and operation, plus skills training for local technicians.

The network underpins other digital public infrastructure, from e-commerce to government services. It could reduce the cost of bandwidth over time if wholesale pricing works as intended, helping startups, remote workers and content creators outside the major cities. Failure to protect the cables or complete last-mile links would leave the backbone under-utilised, repeating the pattern where infrastructure exists but meaningful connectivity does not reach most citizens.

Nigerians watching this rollout should track three practical signals in the coming months: visible trenching and cable laying in their states, announcements of interconnection points that smaller ISPs can use, and measurable improvements in fixed broadband availability. Those markers will show whether the project moves from announcement to lived experience.