By NEWSCOUNT Desk
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), in collaboration with the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), has begun the Zero Rated Data Access to Approved Educational Platforms and Content Initiative, giving eligible learners up to 100 megabytes of free daily data to access designated educational platforms.
The initiative, which took effect on October 1, 2026, is intended to reduce the cost of digital learning and make it easier for learners to access study materials, conduct research, take online courses and use other approved academic resources.
The programme is part of the NCC’s mandate to promote modern, universal, efficient, reliable, affordable and accessible communications services in Nigeria.
Under the Operator-Sponsored Model, eligible users will receive up to 100MB of free data each day for access to approved educational platforms. A learner receiving the full daily allowance would have access to about 700MB of educational data in a week, roughly 3GB in a month and up to 36.5GB in a year.
Speaking on the rollout, the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NCC, Dr. Aminu Maida, said the initiative was part of wider efforts by the government to equip Nigerians with digital skills and knowledge and strengthen human capital development.
Maida said the programme also supports President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s vision of building a $1 trillion economy, noting that investment in education, skills acquisition and access to learning opportunities would be important to achieving the objective.
He said the value of the initiative should not be considered only from the 100MB provided to an individual learner each day, but from the cumulative benefit over months and years and the number of learners expected to use the service.
“One hundred megabytes of data might sound a little, but when you look at it over a month and over a year, and cumulatively over the millions of learners and students that are going to access it, it’s really a significant investment by the industry towards the future of this country,” Maida said.
He further stated that better connectivity would help reduce differences in access to educational resources in different parts of the country by linking students with teachers, learning materials and other sources of knowledge regardless of where they live.
According to Maida, the initiative is also an investment in the future of the telecommunications industry because a better educated and more productive workforce would create new ideas, businesses and opportunities that could support growth in the sector and the wider economy.
“If the economy becomes more productive through these people who access these educational platforms, they are the future innovators in Nigeria, they are the ones who are going to come up with ideas and become leaders of tomorrow. So, making them more productive is going to create more opportunities for the sector to grow. It’s not about short-term thinking. It’s about securing the future of Nigerians,” he said.
The ALTON Chairman, Engr. Gbenga Adebayo, said the telecommunications and wider technology industry had committed financial and other resources valued at almost ₦200 billion to the initial pilot involving 5,000 learners.
Adebayo explained that the figure takes into account the daily 100MB connectivity allocation, network resources, devices, terminals and other support being provided by industry stakeholders.
He said telecommunications operators were bearing the cost of the connectivity and network capacity required to provide learners with daily access to approved educational platforms, describing the commitment as part of the industry’s support for the Federal Government’s education and digital inclusion objectives.
The ALTON Chairman further stated that the initiative had brought together telecommunications operators, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), TowerCos and other technology stakeholders.
He said the value of the programme should not be judged only by the quantity of data being provided, but also by what learners could do with the access, including preparing for examinations, conducting research, gaining digital skills and taking part in the growing digital economy.
Adebayo said the industry was putting resources behind the national education objective rather than limiting its role to asking government to introduce policies and programmes.
“This is a partnership in the truest sense: Government provides the policy and educational framework; the regulator provides coordination and oversight; telecommunications operators provide connectivity and network resources; while OEMs, TowerCos and other technology partners contribute devices, terminals and other critical resources,” he said.
He called on other stakeholders to support the initiative, stressing that providing internet access alone would not be enough to achieve the desired results in digital education.
According to him, learners also need suitable devices, useful educational content, dependable infrastructure, digital literacy and sustained investment for digital education to produce the expected results.
“The telecommunications industry has demonstrated its willingness to lead by example,” Adebayo said, describing the initiative as an expression of confidence in Nigeria’s young people and the future of the country.
He further stated that ALTON and its members would work with the Government, the NCC, the Federal Ministry of Education and other stakeholders to ensure that the resources committed to the programme produce measurable and lasting educational results.
“Investing in education is investing in Nigeria’s future and the telecommunications industry is putting its resources behind that future,” Adebayo said.
