Hotspot Network Limited plans to deploy 2G and 4G mobile services, broadband internet and community Wi-Fi across 500 unserved and underserved communities in Nigeria under a World Bank-backed infrastructure project.
The rollout will also include renewable energy-powered infrastructure, with the company combining telecommunications equipment and clean-energy systems to extend connectivity to communities where network coverage and reliable electricity remain limited.
The PUNCH gathered that the project is being implemented under the World Bank-funded Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-Up programme, in partnership with the Rural Electrification Agency.
The planned deployment comes as a large share of Nigeria’s population remains outside the formal internet economy. DataReportal’s Digital 2026 report estimated that 109 million people in Nigeria were using the internet at the end of 2025, leaving about 130 million people, or 54.5 per cent of the population, offline.
The same data showed that Nigeria had 165 million cellular mobile connections at the end of 2025, equivalent to 69.2 per cent of the population. About 69 per cent of those connections were classified as broadband, covering 3G, 4G and 5G networks. DataReportal cautioned, however, that mobile connections and broadband connections should not be treated as direct measures of individual internet use.
Hotspot’s project is aimed at expanding the physical infrastructure needed to bring more rural and underserved communities into the digital economy, with the planned services expected to support mobile communications, internet access and community-level connectivity.
The renewable energy component is significant because telecommunications infrastructure requires a dependable source of power to operate. The combination of connectivity infrastructure with renewable energy is also consistent with the broader objective of DARES, which was designed to extend electricity access through solar systems and mini-grids in communities that are poorly served by the national grid.
The World Bank approved the $750m DARES project in 2023. The programme is expected to leverage more than $1bn in private capital and provide new or improved electricity access to more than 17.5 million Nigerians through distributed renewable energy solutions.
The World Bank said DARES was designed to build on the Nigeria Electrification Project, which had supported the establishment of 125 mini-grids and the sale of more than one million solar home systems, providing electricity access to more than 5.5 million Nigerians.
The World Bank’s project documents also show that DARES is intended to support different levels of electricity access, including standalone solar systems for unserved rural and remote communities and mini-grids for rural and peri-urban areas.
For Hotspot, the telecommunications component creates a link between two infrastructure gaps that frequently overlap in rural areas: access to electricity and access to communications.
Chairman of the board of Hotspot Network Limited, Okezie Ofoegbu, said the project would expand affordable connectivity in communities that have historically had limited access to digital services.
“This milestone reinforces our commitment to expanding affordable connectivity and digital access across underserved communities in Nigeria,” Ofoegbu said.
“By combining resilient telecommunications infrastructure with renewable energy solutions, we are creating new opportunities for education, healthcare delivery, financial inclusion, entrepreneurship and sustainable economic growth in rural areas.”
The company said the infrastructure would provide communities with greater access to digital financial services, online education, healthcare resources and digital commerce.
Hotspot is a Nigerian telecommunications infrastructure company involved in rural telephony, broadband connectivity, community Wi-Fi and renewable energy-enabled connectivity solutions.
The 500-community project comes as Nigeria seeks to extend telecommunications infrastructure beyond major urban centres, where commercial considerations have historically made network investment more attractive.
