Nigeria’s Project BRIDGE Could Give Chad a New Route to Global Connectivity

Nigeria’s 90,000km Fibre Plan Could Give Chad a New Route to Global Internet Capacity

Chad is exploring a fibre connection through Nigeria that could provide another route to international internet capacity available through Lagos, extending the significance of Project BRIDGE beyond Nigeria’s borders.

Chad and Nigeria are discussing a fibre interconnection through Project BRIDGE that could give the landlocked country another route to international capacity available through Lagos. The cross-border link is not yet operational, and no construction timetable or commercial model has been announced.

Chad is seeking more than another diplomatic technology agreement with Nigeria. The landlocked country wants additional routes to international internet capacity, and Nigeria’s Project BRIDGE is emerging as one possible path.

At talks in N’Djamena on 16 September, Chad’s telecommunications minister, Haliki Choua Mahamat, and Nigeria’s communications minister, Bosun Tijani, discussed a fibre interconnection between the two countries. Chad specifically pointed to access to international capacity available through Lagos. The proposal remains under development; neither government has announced a completed route, construction schedule or commercial model.

Project BRIDGE is designed to add 90,000 kilometres of open-access fibre, extending Nigeria’s national backbone from roughly 30,000 kilometres to about 120,000 kilometres. The African Development Bank says the programme is also intended to establish cross-border links with Benin, Cameroon, Niger and Chad.

Why Chad wants another route

Chad has no coastline, so its international traffic must cross another country before reaching the wider global network. More route diversity can reduce dependence on a single corridor and give operators additional options when outages or congestion affect connectivity.

During the September meeting, Chad described diversification of its international connectivity routes as a priority. A Nigerian connection would therefore matter not because it would become Chad’s only path to the internet, but because it could add another route into the regional network and, eventually, to capacity available through Lagos.

The technical details are still missing. No public document reviewed by TechView Africa specifies the final fibre path, participating operators, capacity, wholesale pricing or the point at which a Nigeria–Chad link would interconnect with international infrastructure.

Project BRIDGE already has a regional dimension

The Chad discussion is not an entirely new direction for BRIDGE. The African Development Bank’s April 2026 financing announcement already listed cross-border links with Chad, Niger, Cameroon and Benin among the project’s intended outcomes.

Inside Nigeria, however, the challenge remains one of scale. TechView Africa’s analysis of 192 million active phone connections and fewer than 320,000 FTTX subscriptions showed how heavily the country continues to depend on mobile networks even as fixed fibre grows quickly. BRIDGE is intended to strengthen the backbone underneath that demand, rather than simply connect more homes directly to fibre.

That infrastructure becomes more important as traffic rises. Our analysis of Africa’s rapidly growing mobile-data consumption found that higher usage places pressure not only on mobile networks but also on the fibre backhaul and international links carrying traffic between cities and countries.

What still has to happen

Nigeria has moved BRIDGE beyond the concept stage. The Federal Ministry has begun procurement and technical work, including a tender for low-level designs covering 40,000 kilometres of fibre. The Nigeria–Chad segment, however, should still be treated as a proposed interconnection.

Before it can be described as an operating regional gateway, the two countries would need to disclose a route, financing and construction arrangements, participating operators, interconnection points and a delivery timetable.

Our Recommendation

The next milestone worth watching is publication of the technical plan rather than another cooperation announcement.

If the Nigeria–Chad connection moves into construction, BRIDGE could serve two purposes at once: expanding Nigeria’s domestic backbone while giving neighbouring countries another route into West Africa’s international connectivity infrastructure. Until those details are public, that regional-gateway potential remains credible but unrealised.