Fuel costs are eating into every naira Nigeria's telecom operators spend on keeping networks alive. The Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has revealed that its members collectively poured N4 trillion into network infrastructure over just two years, even as diesel prices surged by 110 percent during the same period.
That kind of cost pressure does not stay invisible for long. Diesel is the backbone of tower operations across the country, particularly in areas where grid power is unreliable or completely absent. When the price of that fuel more than doubles, the math becomes brutal for companies already managing thin margins while trying to expand coverage.
ALTON's figures put a hard number on what many Nigerians have felt firsthand: degraded service, dropped calls, and slow data, often the downstream result of operators cutting corners on energy spending just to stay afloat. The N4 trillion investment shows genuine commitment to infrastructure, but the 110 percent diesel spike threatens to swallow the gains before customers ever feel them.
The question now is whether regulators and policymakers will treat energy costs as the telecoms crisis they clearly are, before the next round of price reviews lands on consumers.
Originally published by BusinessDay.