By 
By Osasome C.O
ICT Sector Contributes N9.44tn to Nigeria’s GDP in Q3 2025
Nigeria’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector contributed ₦9.44 trillion to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the third quarter of 2025, underscoring its growing importance as a key driver of economic growth and digital transformation.
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The strong performance has reignited calls by industry stakeholders for accelerated broadband expansion, improved subsea cable capacity with effective inland distribution, the elimination of wasteful infrastructure duplication, and a renewed commitment to local manufacturing.
Telecoms Sustain Growth Despite Economic Pressures
According to the latest National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Gross Domestic Product report, Nigeria’s telecommunications sector recorded a real growth rate of 5.78 percent in Q3 2025, demonstrating remarkable resilience amid broader macroeconomic challenges.
Although slightly lower than the 6.1 percent growth recorded in Q2 2025, the performance reflects sustained demand for mobile voice services, data consumption, and broadband connectivity across the country.
The NBS noted that continuous investments by telecom operators in network expansion, fibre deployment, and 5G readiness have helped shield the sector from economic headwinds impacting other industries.
Telecommunications Leads ICT Contribution
A breakdown of the ICT sector shows that the telecommunications and information services subsector remained the largest contributor, accounting for ₦7.47 trillion in Q3 2025. This represents a 1.22 percent year-on-year increase from the ₦7.38 trillion recorded in Q3 2024, although it declined by 3.95 percent quarter-on-quarter from ₦7.78 trillion in Q2 2025.
Other ICT-related sub-sectors also made notable contributions:
- Broadcasting: ₦1.04 trillion
- Motion pictures, sound recording, and music production: ₦911.77 billion
- Publishing: ₦18.6 billion
These figures highlight the ICT sector’s expanding economic footprint and its critical role in supporting Nigeria’s creative and knowledge-based industries.
Broadband Expansion Seen as Catalyst for Economic Growth
Industry experts argue that sustained growth in ICT’s GDP contribution will depend largely on aggressive broadband expansion. Improved connectivity is expected to unlock productivity gains across multiple sectors, including agriculture, finance, education, healthcare, and public administration.
High-speed broadband enables businesses—especially micro, small, and medium-scale enterprises (MSMEs)—to automate operations, adopt cloud technologies, reduce costs, and scale efficiently.
Job Creation, Financial Inclusion and Digital Services
Broadband expansion is also central to job creation and digital entrepreneurship, lowering barriers to entry for startups in e-commerce, software development, content creation, and digital services. Global development institutions have consistently identified broadband rollout as a major catalyst for employment growth in Nigeria’s digital economy.
In addition, improved connectivity supports financial inclusion, powering fintech platforms, mobile banking, and Payment Service Banks such as MTN MoMo PSB and Airtel SmartCash PSB. These services are helping to bring millions of unbanked Nigerians—particularly in rural communities—into the formal financial system.
Boosting E-Governance and Attracting Investment
Widespread broadband access also enhances e-governance, telemedicine, online education, and digital public services, reducing the digital divide and improving transparency in revenue management.
Furthermore, the availability of reliable, high-speed internet infrastructure remains a key factor in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI), particularly in technology, finance, healthcare, and business services.
Fibre Expansion to Unlock Digital Potential
Nigeria’s current push for broadband expansion, including plans to deploy 90,000 kilometres of new fibre-optic infrastructure, aims to raise national broadband penetration to 70 percent. Stakeholders believe this will unlock the full potential of Nigeria’s youthful population, strengthen emerging tech hubs, and position ICT as an even stronger pillar of national economic growth.
