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Nigeria’s ambition to become Africa’s digital economy powerhouse now rests on a company that has yet to be legally incorporated.

The federal government expects to register the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) that will oversee Project BRIDGE by July 31, laying the legal foundation for one of Nigeria’s largest digital infrastructure projects. The incorporation date will not mark a public launch or the start of operations. Rather, it is the point at which the project company will formally come into existence, according to Jumoke Akande, Project Lead at the Project Implementation Unit, Federal Ministry of Communication, Innovation, and Digital Economy.

The company’s final legal name has not been disclosed. World Bank project documents currently refer to it as the “Project Company,” “Project BRIDGE SPV,” or simply the “SPV.”

“​​The final legal name of the SPV is confidential and has not yet been publicly disclosed,” Akande told TechCabal on Sunday. “For now, it is referred to in the relevant documents as the “Project Company”, the “Project BRIDGE SPV” or simply the “SPV”.”

Once established, the SPV will be responsible for mobilising private capital, coordinating construction across Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, and overseeing the deployment of at least 90,000 kilometres of climate-resilient fibre optic networks by September 2030.

That leaves a little room for delay.

Before large-scale construction can begin, the  SPV must complete investor selection, achieve financial close, finalise engineering designs, conduct route surveys, secure permits and negotiate right-of-way agreements. Physical deployment is expected to begin in 2027, leaving roughly three and a half years to build a network that would dramatically expand Nigeria’s digital backbone.

If successful, Project BRIDGE would increase Nigeria’s fibre backbone to about 120,000 kilometres, extend connectivity to more than 770 local government areas, and connect thousands of schools, hospitals and other public institutions.

The project is designed around a wholesale, open-access model rather than a new retail telecommunications operator. The SPV will provide infrastructure that mobile network operators, Internet service providers and enterprise customers can use on non-discriminatory terms.

That distinction is important. Nigeria is not simply building another fibre network. It is attempting to create shared infrastructure that lowers the cost of connectivity while allowing multiple operators to expand services without each having to build its own backbone.

The World Bank is providing $500 million through the  International Development Association, while another $1.1 billion is expected to come from private and other commercial financing. Additional development finance institutions are also participating, including the African Development Bank with $200 million, the European Bank for  Reconstruction and Development with  $100 million, and  BADEA with another $100 million.

“All fundraising figures published are subject to a detailed model built by the transaction advisers which will provide guidance specifically on the total amount of funding required for the project,” Akande said. “This is not publicly available. The $2 billion figure used in some earlier descriptions was a broader or rounded preliminary estimate, while US$1.6 billion is the financing envelope formally appraised and approved by the World Bank.”

The next phase, therefore, is as much about financial engineering as it is about laying fibre.

More than 30 local and international companies expressed interest during the government’s market-sounding and prequalification process, according to project documents. Incorporation of the SPV is expected to allow the government to move towards final investment agreements and construction contracts.

The proposed ownership structure gives control to private investors.  They are expected to hold between 51% and 75% of the SPV, while the federal government will retain a minority stake of between 25% and 49%. An independent board and private-sector management are intended to limit political interference while giving the company the commercial flexibility required to execute the project.

Attracting investors, however, may prove easier than delivering the network. The construction schedule is ambitious. Project plans call for about 17,500 kilometres of fibre to be deployed in the first year, followed by 25,000 kilometres in each of 2028 and 2029. A further 22,500 kilometres must then be completed during the final nine months of 2030.

At its peak, crews across the country would need to install roughly 80 to 90 kilometres of fibre every day.

To manage the scale of the rollout, Nigeria plans to divide the project into six engineering, procurement and construction zones operating simultaneously. Contractors in each zone would each be responsible for deploying hundreds of kilometres of fibre every month.

The challenge will not end with trenching and laying cable. Project milestones also include activating wholesale interconnection hubs, connecting public institutions, reducing wholesale bandwidth prices, expanding connectivity to more than 400 local government headquarters, and building redundant network routes to minimise the impact of cable cuts.

The government expects the infrastructure to increase broadband users from about 92 million to 150 million by 2030, reduce wholesale bandwidth prices by 17%, raise fixed broadband speeds to 50 Mbps and connect more than 59,000 public institutions to high-speed Internet.

The programme also includes digital literacy training for 37,000 Nigerians, with women expected to account for 60% of participants.

Those targets explain why the project matters beyond the telecom industry.

Nigeria’s digital economy increasingly depends on the availability and affordability of connectivity. A larger national fibre backbone could enable operators and Internet service providers to expand into areas where deployment is currently uneconomic, while greater wholesale competition could reduce the cost of capacity.

But the economics of the project remain exposed to the same pressures confronting much of Nigeria’s infrastructure sector.

The World Bank has classified the programme’s overall risk as substantial, citing governance, procurement and institutional capacity challenges, alongside macroeconomic pressures such as inflation and foreign-exchange volatility.

Right-of-way approvals present another potential bottleneck. Although more than 11 states have agreed to waive right-of-way fees, according to the ministry, inconsistent local charges and administrative delays could still slow construction.

Protecting the network once it is built poses an equally significant challenge. Project BRIDGE will need to secure a steady supply of fibre and ducting while deploying thousands of kilometres of cable across difficult terrain, from remote northern communities to riverine areas in the south.  The scale of the threat is already evident.  Telcom operators recorded a record 155,397 fibre cuts in April and May 2026 alone—74,276 in April and 79,121 in May. More than 54,000 of those incidents were attributed to vandalism, underscoring the challenge of safeguarding the very infrastructure the project is intended to expand.

The threat persists despite Nigeria’s Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII) Order, gazetted by the President on June 25, 2024, to protect critical digital and technological assets and ensure their uninterrupted operation. For Project BRIDGE, however, the rest of the test will be translating that legal framework into effective protection for tens of thousands of kilometres of fibre.

If successful, the open-access model could reduce duplicated fibre infrastructure by allowing multiple operators to share one backbone, lowering costs and expanding broadband to underserved areas. But the model depends on the SPV securing capital, operating commercially and building quickly. Its July incorporation is therefore only the starting point; execution will require investors, contractors and governments to coordinate thousands of kilometres of construction.

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