As the economy recovers, Nigeria’s perennial telecoms market challenges are starting to impact overall market standing, and Nigeria’s performance relative to its African peers. Long a beacon for growth and new technology adoption in Africa, Nigeria appears to be falling behind, even regressing in a number of key areas.

Mobile broadband, for example, is a key area of concern. Between 2010 and 2012, Nigeria had one of the highest levels of broadband penetration in Africa. From 2013, other markets grew faster, a pattern that accentuated during 2015-17, as Nigerian broadband penetration growth slowed. A leader in the 3G era, Nigeria has been somewhat of a laggard on 4G. As of mid 2018, for example, Nigeria 4G coverage was one of the lowest among a number of key African mobile markets, trailing South Africa, Kenya or Ghana.