Nigeria overhauls 22-year-old Telecoms law as regulator eyes digital convergence, innovation, and rural inclusion.
Nigeria’s telecoms regulator is initiating a major overhaul of the country’s 22-year-old communications law, aiming to bring it in line with today’s digital realities—from artificial intelligence and 5G to cybersecurity and converging telecom and IT services.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) announced recently that it will revise the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA) of 2003, a landmark law that liberalized the telecoms sector and set the stage for Nigeria’s mobile and internet boom. But the NCC now says the Act has become increasingly outdated in the face of emerging technologies and digital business models.
“We envision a revised Nigerian Communications Act that not only addresses today’s challenges but anticipates tomorrow’s opportunities – a framework that positions Nigeria as a leader in the global digital economy,” said Aminu Maida, the NCC’s Executive Vice Chairman, during a stakeholder colloquium in Abuja.
Originally enacted to break the state monopoly held by Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL), the NCA catalyzed the rapid expansion of mobile telephony, internet access, and digital services such as fintech, telemedicine, and e-commerce. But technologies like AI, blockchain, the Internet of Things (IoT), and edge computing -nonexistent or nascent in 2003 – now play dominant roles in global telecoms.
At the core of the NCC’s proposed reforms is the introduction of flexible regulatory tools, including sandboxes, innovation hubs, and adaptive licensing models. These are meant to strike a balance between enabling innovation and ensuring regulatory oversight.
The revisions also seek to address the regulatory fragmentation caused by the convergence of telecommunications, IT, and broadcasting. While digital services such as streaming and VoIP span these once-distinct sectors, the current law still focuses narrowly on telecoms, leading to inefficiencies and policy overlap.
