The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has revealed that nearly half of Nigerians who own 5G-enabled devices are unable to use 5G services because of insufficient network coverage across the country.
The NCC Director of Technical Standards and Network Integrity, Edoyemi Ogoh, disclosed this on Wednesday while presenting the telecom industry’s fourth-quarter (Q4) 2025 performance report.
“About 50 percent of Nigerians with 5G devices don’t have access to 5G service,” Ogoh said, explaining that the service is unavailable in many areas where users want to connect. “So, there is still a gap in the 5G coverage.”
Ogoh also pointed to a continuing disparity in network performance between urban and rural areas, noting that city users generally experience lower latency and better quality of service than those in rural communities.
According to him, telecom operators such as MTN, Airtel and Glo perform relatively well in urban centres, with MTN leading in latency performance, while rural network quality remains inconsistent.
“MTN and Airtel are doing pretty okay in rural areas, but Glo and T2 still need to improve,” he said.
He added that high latency affects digital activities like video streaming, video calls and content uploads, particularly for rural users on weaker networks.
On the broader digital divide, Ogoh said NCC data shows faster improvements in urban areas than in rural communities. He noted that median download speeds in cities rose from 19 Mbps in Q3 2025 to 20.5 Mbps in Q4, while rural download speeds declined within the same period.
The upload speed gap also widened, increasing from 3.5 Mbps in Q3 to 4.4 Mbps in Q4.
“We are seeing more improvements or faster improvements in urban centres compared to rural areas,” he said, attributing the trend partly to the deployment of over 2,800 new network sites in the past year, most of which were located in urban areas.
Despite improvements in speed and performance where available, Ogoh said 5G is still falling short of expectations because coverage remains limited. He explained that many users can access 5G only in specific locations such as offices, while experiencing weaker connectivity at home.
Ogoh disclosed that 5G coverage gaps in Lagos dropped from 70.9 percent in Q3 to 55.4 percent in Q4, while Abuja recorded a decline from 65.6 percent to 47.4 percent within the same period.
“Obviously, there is still some gap to go, but we are in the right direction,” he said.
He also raised concerns about network availability on highways, noting that about 326 kilometres of roads nationwide still lack any form of network coverage.
According to the NCC official, 4G remains the backbone of Nigeria’s data ecosystem, accounting for roughly 97 percent of quality service experiences on roads and significantly supporting overall network performance.
To achieve major improvements, Ogoh said telecom operators must accelerate 5G rollout nationwide, expand infrastructure in rural areas, upgrade rural sites from 2G and 3G to at least 4G, and tackle persistent latency challenges.
