The President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Tony Emoekpere, has called telecommunications operators seeking to expand rural connectivity in Nigeria should look beyond individual subscribers and build business models around institutions capable of sustaining demand.
Speaking at RuralConnect 2.0 in Lagos on Tuesday, Emoekpere argued that connecting the next 25 million Nigerians would require a shift in how rural telecommunications infrastructure is financed, deployed and monetised.
“Instead of thinking about the subscribers, think about who anchors it,” he said during his goodwill message and industry insight at the summit.
Emoekpere said rural connectivity sites serving schools, primary healthcare centres, local government offices and farmers’ cooperatives could generate revenue from multiple institutional users from the outset, improving their commercial sustainability.
“A site that connects a school, a primary health care centre, a local government and a farm cooperative can enter the phase of revenue from day one. And that can serve as a sustainability,” he said.
His proposal addresses a central challenge in extending telecommunications services to underserved communities: operators must cover infrastructure deployment and operating costs in locations where individual purchasing power may be insufficient to sustain profitable services.
Rather than relying solely on household subscriptions, the model would aggregate demand from institutions and community organisations, potentially creating a more predictable revenue base for rural network investments.
Emoekpere also called for electricity and telecommunications infrastructure to be developed together, arguing that combining the two could reduce the cost of extending essential services to remote communities.
“Every mini-grid the REA builds should also be a connectivity site,” he said.
He added that electricity and data infrastructure should be planned as complementary investments rather than separate projects.
“The energy and the data should be planned as a single infrastructure,” he said.
Nigeria’s rural connectivity challenge extends beyond the availability of network infrastructure. Emoekpere said high smartphone prices, data costs and limited access to relevant digital content also prevent people from making meaningful use of internet services.
“We need to move from coverage to usage,” he said.
He advocated device financing and pay-as-you-go smartphones to improve affordability, alongside digital content in local languages that meets the needs of farmers, traders and small businesses.
Emoekpere also highlighted the role of smaller internet service providers and local operators in extending connectivity to the last mile, saying their understanding of community needs could help them deliver more relevant services than a uniform approach to network deployment.
On funding, he called for stronger government and development-partner support, arguing that rural connectivity should be treated as a national priority rather than left entirely to commercial investment.
Emoekpere urged regulators, governments, telecommunications operators, financiers and communities to work together to develop solutions that expand access while ensuring the long-term sustainability of rural networks.