By Micah Jonah
February 3, 2026
Globacom is quietly mounting one of the most consequential infrastructure pushes in Nigeria’s telecom landscape, and its moves carry direct implications for how Akwa Ibom can position itself as a digital gateway for the South South region.
At a time when the Federal Government is targeting one trillion dollar digital economy, Globacom is shifting from being perceived mainly as a low cost GSM operator to becoming a serious backbone player for data, cloud and next generation services.
Across the country, Globacom is in the middle of a major network modernization programme spanning towers, radio sites, fibre and core transmission. The company has increased its tower count to about 8,773 sites, with new base stations being deployed in both underserved communities and high demand urban areas to ease congestion, improve quality of service.
This expansion is supported by fresh spectrum holdings and thousands of 4G LTE sites, already translating into higher download speeds, stronger uploads, clearer voice calls and significantly lower latency for subscribers. Behind the scenes, the operator is also upgrading its fibre backbone and transmission routes to handle higher traffic volumes and reduce outages linked to road construction, vandalism and fibre cuts.
These investments go beyond better browsing for individual users. They are laying the foundation for data heavy use cases such as streaming, cloud hosted applications, fintech platforms, artificial intelligence workloads, internet of things projects and large scale e learning. As more Nigerian businesses migrate operations to the cloud and public services digitise, the market will increasingly reward operators that can deliver reliable high capacity links with low latency, and Globacom clearly wants to be part of that future.
The strategy also includes hybrid power solutions at network sites, with a deliberate shift away from diesel only generators towards battery centric energy systems to improve uptime amid Nigeria’s persistent power challenges.
To appreciate the scale of what is unfolding, it is important to note that Globacom owns the Glo 1 submarine cable, one of Nigeria’s key international gateways connecting West Africa to Europe. In 2024, when multiple subsea cables off the West African coast were damaged, the resilience of Glo 1 became central to national discussions on redundancy and the need to strengthen submarine infrastructure.
Since then, the company has worked with Nigerian authorities and international bodies such as the International Telecommunication Union and the International Cable Protection Committee on measures to enhance cable protection and resilience. In parallel, Globacom has participated in state level connectivity projects where its backbone is used to extend high speed internet into new areas, showing how an operator that controls both international capacity and domestic infrastructure can shape Nigeria’s digital map.
For Akwa Ibom, these developments intersect with a unique local story. The landing of the 2Africa subsea cable at Qua Iboe Beach, combined with MainOne’s agreement with the state government to deploy about 140 kilometres of metro fibre, has effectively positioned the state as a strategic connectivity hub.
This marks the first time Nigeria has a major submarine cable landing site outside Lagos, giving Akwa Ibom the opportunity to present itself as an alternative international gateway and disaster recovery route for operators, data centre providers and cloud companies. The metro fibre project is designed to unlock the full potential of digital connectivity for the entire South South region, ensuring that carrier grade capacity extends inland to population and economic centres rather than stopping at the shoreline.
When Globacom’s national infrastructure push is viewed alongside Akwa Ibom’s emerging digital assets, a clear strategic picture emerges. Globacom is expanding towers, LTE sites and backbone capacity nationwide, while Akwa Ibom is building subsea and metro fibre infrastructure capable of serving multiple states. If these two tracks are aligned through deliberate policy and structured partnership, Akwa Ibom can become the point where upgraded national networks meet world class international capacity, creating a low latency environment ideal for data centres, business process outsourcing hubs, cloud providers and digital startups.
The implications for governance, inclusion and economic development are significant. On the public sector side, capacity from an upgraded Globacom backbone can power e government platforms, digital service centres, education and health portals, and secure connectivity for ministries, departments and agencies across all local government areas.
With the right framework, the state could leverage Globacom’s expanded reach to connect schools, primary health centres and rural communities that have long suffered from poor connectivity, supported by affordable devices and tailored data bundles for students, civil servants and small businesses.
On the private sector side, enterprises in oil and gas, manufacturing, logistics and agribusiness could rely on improved Globacom services as backhaul for point of sale systems, internet of things sensors, cloud based enterprise platforms and real time analytics, anchored by the redundancy provided by the 2Africa cable and metro fibre network.
There is also a powerful narrative opportunity. As Globacom redefines what is possible on the national network side and Akwa Ibom invests in its own digital backbone, the state can position itself as the testbed where national and international infrastructure strategies converge.
In national digital economy conversations, Akwa Ibom can credibly argue that it offers both a subsea entry point and the terrestrial infrastructure required by operators seeking to diversify away from a Lagos centric model. With the right incentives, streamlined right of way policies, security guarantees and power support for telecom infrastructure, the state can attract additional tower deployments, fibre rings and even edge data facilities from Globacom and other operators.
Ultimately, what Globacom is doing today goes beyond incremental network improvement. It reflects a broader reshaping of Nigeria’s telecom and connectivity ecosystem.
For Akwa Ibom and the wider South South, the challenge and opportunity lie in translating these national shifts into concrete local advantages, from better quality of service for everyday subscribers to the attraction of high value digital investments that create jobs and expand the tax base. If the state aligns decisively with operators like Globacom, it can turn this moment into a lasting competitive edge in Nigeria’s race towards a digital future.
