ALTON urges states to scrap telecoms right-of-way fees

Association says charges account for up to 60% of fibre deployment costs By Chidinma Chukwu, Abuja The Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has urged state governments to abolish right-of-way charges on telecommunications infrastructure, warning that the fees account for up to 60 per cent of fibre-optic deployment costs in some states and discourage network expansion into underserved communities. The association said scrapping the charges, particularly in rural areas and locations with limited commercial prospects, would lower infrastructure deployment costs, attract investment and help bridge Nigeria’s digital divide. ALTON Chairman, Engr. Gbenga Adebayo, made the call on Tuesday on the sidelines of a plenary session sponsored by IHS Nigeria at the 2026 Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja.

Right-of-way charges are fees imposed for permission to access and use public or private land, roads and other designated spaces to install fibre-optic cables and related telecommunications infrastructure. Adebayo said the high cost of obtaining right-of-way approvals had become a major obstacle to fibre deployment, making it difficult for operators to justify investments in communities where anticipated revenue might not cover infrastructure costs. “Today, the cost of right-of-way amounts to a significant part of the cost of fibre deployment. For every one kilometre of fibre that you deploy, in some of the states, the cost of right-of-way can be as high as 50 to 60 per cent of the cost of deploying the entire infrastructure,” he said. He called for legislation to make right-of-way access for telecommunications infrastructure free, particularly in rural communities and other areas where expected commercial returns were unlikely to attract private…