Foreign direct investment (FDI) into Nigeria’s telecommunications sector has rebounded sharply, reaching its strongest level in six years, buoyed by pricing reforms, improved naira stability, and renewed investor confidence.
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics show that the telecoms sector attracted $392.91 million in foreign investments in the first nine months of 2025. This marks the sector’s best performance since 2019, when inflows hit $922.88 million over the same period.
The recovery follows several years of volatility. After the 2019 peak, foreign investment in telecoms slumped, plunging to an all-time low of $107.46 million in 2021, as rigid price controls and foreign exchange instability dampened long-term investment appetite.
Industry operators had consistently warned that fixed pricing structures, combined with Nigeria’s volatile currency environment, made the sector unattractive to foreign capital. Telecom companies rely heavily on foreign exchange to import network equipment, software, and core infrastructure, leaving them highly exposed to currency risks.
That outlook has now begun to change. A mix of policy reforms and macroeconomic stabilisation—most notably the approval of a 50 per cent telecom tariff increase in January 2025 and improved naira stability—has helped reverse the downward trend and unlock fresh capital inflows.
“The industry is now back on the path of sustainability,” said Gbenga Adebayo, chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria.
Earlier in 2025, when telecom investment dipped to $80.78 million in the first quarter, Adebayo had predicted a rebound in the second half of the year and into early 2026, provided there were no major macroeconomic shocks. He noted that most telecom investors are long-term capital providers who prioritise regulatory clarity and stability.
The renewed inflows also align with more than $1 billion in new infrastructure spending unlocked in 2025, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission. Its Executive Vice Chairman, Aminu Maida, said in August 2025 that the tariff adjustment had significantly improved investor sentiment.
Rising foreign investment is already translating into aggressive network expansion. MTN Nigeria more than tripled its capital expenditure to ₦757.4 billion ($527.08 million) in the first nine months of 2025—its largest infrastructure push in years—as it accelerated network upgrades and capacity expansion.
Similarly, Airtel Nigeria invested $166 million between the second and fourth quarters of 2025 and announced plans for an additional $120 million investment in a 38-megawatt hyperscale data centre at Eko Atlantic, scheduled to open in 2026.
For regulators and industry watchers, the rebound underscores a clear lesson: pricing reform and macroeconomic stability are critical to unlocking long-term infrastructure investment and sustaining growth in Nigeria’s telecoms sector.
