Evaluation of Smart City Telecommunications Infrastructure Requirements: A Case Study of Eko Atlantic City, Lagos

Smart city development integrates advanced telecommunications infrastructure with digital management systems to optimize urban services, resource efficiency, and resident quality of life. As Nigeria's most prominent smart city development, Eko Atlantic City in Lagos State represents a significant case study for understanding the telecommunications infrastructure requirements of planned urban environments. This study evaluates the telecommunications infrastructure requirements for smart city service delivery at Eko Atlantic City, drawing on publicly available development plans, site visits, and structured interviews with six telecommunications planning engineers and two smart city technology consultants engaged with the project. Requirements were analyzed across five smart city application domains: smart traffic management, energy grid monitoring, public safety surveillance, healthcare connectivity, and citizen service portals. Findings indicate that the planned telecommunications infrastructure at Eko Atlantic City incorporates a dedicated fiber optic backbone with ring topology redundancy, a private 4G LTE network for IoT sensor integration, and provisions for 5G small cell overlay in high-density commercial zones. However, the study identifies gaps in long-term spectrum management planning for private network operations, interoperability standards for multi-vendor IoT systems, and cybersecurity frameworks for city management network segments. Recommendations draw on Singapore, Dubai, and Kigali smart city telecommunications models as applicable international benchmarks for the Nigerian context. Keywords: smart city, telecommunications infrastructure, Eko Atlantic, Lagos, IoT connectivity.