Nigeria’s transition to faster mobile connectivity is facing a challenge that goes beyond the availability of advanced smartphones and the rollout of fifth-generation (5G) networks: the ability of mobile infrastructure to deliver reliable service where people actually use their devices.
A report by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), titled Network Performance & 5G Reality Report, suggests that the country’s connectivity challenge is increasingly about the gap between technological readiness and the quality of service experienced by consumers.
Based on an assessment of mobile network experiences between June 2025 and May 2026, the report, prepared with Ookla Advanced Analytics Services, identifies a 30% to 40% performance advantage for major urban centres, including Lagos, Rivers State and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), over rural and northern communities.
It also reveals that active 5G usage among 5G-capable devices stands at approximately 46% in Lagos and 53.1% in Abuja.
These findings raise a critical question for Nigeria’s telecommunications industry: how much value can consumers derive from investments in advanced network technology when coverage, capacity and reliability remain uneven?
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The 5G gap: When a capable device meets an unready network
The report’s findings from Lagos and Abuja illustrate the difference between owning a 5G-capable smartphone and consistently accessing a 5G network.
In Lagos, active 5G usage among capable devices is approximately 46%, compared with 53.1% in Abuja. The NCC report attributes the shortfall partly to network-density limitations and says devices frequently fall back to 4G or older connections.
The implication is significant. Consumers can invest in newer smartphones without necessarily experiencing the connectivity improvements associated with 5G.
However, the figures require careful interpretation. The report’s percentages describe active 5G usage among capable devices; they should not be read as the percentage of the population covered by 5G or as a direct measure of nationwide 5G adoption.
Even with that distinction, the findings highlight a challenge for operators and policymakers. Network deployment is only one part of the equation. Effective coverage, sufficient capacity and consistent performance are also necessary to translate infrastructure investments into better consumer experiences.
For businesses, the difference matters because increasingly digital operations depend on reliable connections rather than technology labels alone.
Nigeria’s digital divide is also a performance divide
The 30% to 40% gap between major urban centres and rural or northern communities points to an important dimension of Nigeria’s digital divide.
Access to a mobile signal does not automatically mean access to a comparable digital experience.
The NCC report says urban centres are better positioned to benefit from advanced connectivity, while rural areas continue to experience more basic connections. This disparity can influence how effectively people participate in digital commerce, online education, remote work and other internet-enabled activities.
For a small business in a major commercial district, a stable connection can support digital payments, customer communications and cloud-based operations. A business in an underserved location may encounter greater difficulty completing the same tasks.
The consequences extend beyond convenience. Where network quality is unreliable, the ability of businesses and individuals to benefit from digital services can vary according to geography.
This creates a policy challenge for Nigeria’s broadband expansion: measuring progress solely by the number of connections or the geographic reach of infrastructure may obscure the differences in service quality that users experience.
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The report therefore strengthens the case for evaluating connectivity not only by whether a network is present, but also by how reliably it performs.
Why network reliability matters more than headline speeds
One of the report’s notable observations concerns the difference between activities that tolerate intermittent performance and those that require consistent connectivity.
Basic web browsing and video streaming generally work well, according to the report. However, video calls, distance learning, mobile banking and digital payments are more vulnerable to connection instability, delays and interruptions.
This distinction matters because a network can deliver high peak speeds without providing the consistency required for real-time applications.
For instance, a consumer may download a large file quickly but still experience interruptions during a video conference. Similarly, a payment transaction may fail or take longer than expected when connectivity is unstable.
For financial technology companies and businesses that depend on digital payments, these interruptions can affect customer experience and operational efficiency.
The report also observes that consumers express greater satisfaction with their physical mobile devices than with the network services connecting them.
This suggests that the consumer experience cannot be improved through device upgrades alone. The underlying network must also deliver dependable performance.
For operators, the challenge is therefore not simply to advertise faster speeds but to improve network stability, responsiveness and availability.
What the findings mean for telecom investment
The report points to three priorities: spectrum refarming, targeted geographic investment and infrastructure sharing.
Spectrum refarming involves reallocating spectrum resources used by older technologies, such as 2G and 3G, to strengthen newer networks where technically and commercially appropriate.
The objective is to improve the capacity and performance of modern 4G and 5G services. However, the transition must account for customers and services that still depend on legacy networks.
Targeted investment is equally important. Rather than relying exclusively on nationwide averages, the NCC recommends directing infrastructure expansion towards underperforming states and rural corridors.
This approach could help operators and policymakers identify locations where additional sites, improved backhaul or network optimisation would deliver the greatest benefit.
Infrastructure sharing offers another potential route. Sharing physical assets such as towers and fibre links could reduce duplication and help extend coverage into areas where building separate infrastructure may be commercially difficult.
Nevertheless, sharing arrangements alone will not guarantee better service. Operators must also address capacity, power availability, maintenance and the quality of the connections linking individual sites to the wider network.
The report does not quantify the capital expenditure required to close these gaps, meaning further analysis would be needed to estimate the financial implications for operators.
A challenge for Nigeria’s digital economy
The findings arrive at a time when connectivity underpins a growing range of economic activities, from digital financial services and e-commerce to cloud computing and AI-enabled applications.
For these services, network quality can influence how easily customers access platforms, how reliably businesses process transactions and how effectively workers collaborate online.
The consequences of uneven performance are therefore not confined to telecommunications companies. They extend to businesses that rely on connectivity to reach customers and to communities seeking to participate in the digital economy.
For 5G in particular, the central question is whether the technology can deliver meaningful improvements in everyday use, rather than merely expand the number of locations or devices associated with the technology.
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A more useful assessment of progress would examine how often users can access 5G where it is deployed, whether connections remain stable under demand, and whether improvements translate into better outcomes for consumers and businesses.
The NCC report’s emphasis on experience-driven metrics reflects this distinction between infrastructure deployment and effective service delivery.
What should happen next?
The report recommends shifting towards more targeted interventions and giving greater attention to stability and response times in network-performance monitoring.
For the NCC, the next step is to translate the findings into measurable priorities for operators, with particular attention to areas where advanced network availability does not consistently translate into effective use.
For telecommunications operators, that means identifying high-traffic locations, addressing capacity constraints and evaluating where additional infrastructure or optimisation could improve service.
For policymakers, it means ensuring that broadband expansion reaches underserved communities and that improvements are assessed through actual network performance, not deployment announcements alone.
The report, however, does not provide a detailed operator-by-operator breakdown in its published nine-page presentation, nor does it quantify the precise cost of closing the identified gaps. Further granular data and engagement with operators would help determine which interventions should take priority in specific locations.
Ultimately, Nigeria’s 5G challenge is not simply about getting more advanced smartphones into consumers’ hands or expanding the network footprint. It is about ensuring that infrastructure investments translate into reliable, accessible and useful connectivity.
Until that happens, the promise of 5G will remain unevenly experienced across the country, with geography continuing to influence the quality of Nigeria’s digital life.
[Source: Nigerian Communications Commission, Network Performance & 5G Reality Report, June 2026].