• President Bola Ahmed Tinubu approved the acquisition of two new telecom satellites to replace Nigeria’s aging NigComSat-1R.

• The government aims to support digital transformation, broadband expansion, and Nigeria’s $1 trillion economy target.

• Authorities estimate the satellite replacement project at about $500 million and have opened it to multiple investors and suppliers.

Nigerian authorities are advancing plans to acquire two new telecommunications satellites to strengthen national digital infrastructure. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu approved the initiative, Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy Minister Bosun Tijani said, according to local media reports.

Tijani made the announcement on Wednesday, January 28, in Abuja during a press conference held on the occasion of World Data Privacy Day, which the Nigeria Data Protection Commission organized.

The two new satellites will replace NigComSat-1R, the only communications satellite Nigeria has operated since December 2011. Authorities launched NigComSat-1R to replace NigComSat-1, which China supported and launched on May 13, 2007, but lost shortly after deployment. Engineers designed NigComSat-1R for a 15-year lifespan, which placed its expected end of service in 2026. However, the government announced in September 2025 that it extended operations until 2028.

According to the minister, the satellite acquisition fully aligns with Nigeria’s digital transformation ambitions. He said the government is simultaneously deploying 90,000 kilometers of fiber-optic infrastructure, a project that has reached 60% completion. Digital technology plays a central role in President Tinubu’s strategy to build a $1 trillion economy. Satellites can expand access to information and communication technologies in a country where GSMA estimated that 120 million people lacked mobile internet access at the end of 2023, out of a population of 223.8 million.

As early as 2016, the Nigerian government expressed its intention to acquire two new telecom satellites and estimated the project cost at about $500 million. At the time, the executive branch said it was negotiating a loan with the Export-Import Bank of China, following the financing model used for the first satellite.

However, Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited Chief Executive Officer Jane Nkechi Egerton-Idehen said in a September 2025 interview with TechCabal that this financing structure no longer represents the sole option. She said the process is now open and that several suppliers and investors have submitted bids.

Beyond financing considerations, Egerton-Idehen emphasized that Nigeria also seeks to preserve its orbital slots, which represent the positions allocated to each country for satellite deployment. NigComSat-1R currently occupies one of the three orbital slots assigned to Nigeria by the International Telecommunication Union.

This article was initially published in French by Isaac K. Kassouwi

Adapted in English by Ange J.A BERRY QUENUM