Fresh industry insights have revealed that Nigeria’s telecom sector is facing increasing pressure in major urban centres, with network congestion threatening service quality in areas such as Ikeja and Gwarinpa despite notable improvements in rural connectivity.
The findings were contained in two reports produced by Ookla on behalf of the Nigerian Communications Commission: “Connectivity Report: Geospatial Urban-Rural Performance” and “Capacity Limitation Detection and Its Impact on QoS.”
According to the reports, Nigeria’s mobile connectivity landscape is experiencing a sharp transformation, with rural areas recording significant improvements while urban centres struggle under rising data demand and infrastructure strain.
The reports showed that rural network performance improved substantially over a six-month period, with total network tests increasing from 266,970 to 543,123. Rural median download speeds also rose from 15.0 Mbps to 16.4 Mbps, while upload speeds jumped by 47.5 percent from 6.1 Mbps to 9.0 Mbps. Latency improved as well, dropping from 37 milliseconds to 34 milliseconds.
Ookla noted that the improvements carry major economic and social benefits, particularly for farmers, traders, students, and users of mobile financial services in underserved communities.
Among operators, MTN Nigeria emerged as the strongest rural performer, delivering median rural speeds of 23.3 Mbps. Airtel Nigeria maintained stable urban performance with median speeds of 18.4 Mbps, while Globacom lagged behind with rural speeds of 8.8 Mbps. Meanwhile, 9mobile (T2) recorded a rural median speed of 16.4 Mbps, signaling growing competition in the sector.
The reports identified LTE (4G) as the backbone of rural connectivity, while 5G continues reshaping urban internet access with peak speeds approaching 200 Mbps in some areas.
However, rapid expansion in urban areas is beginning to create serious congestion challenges. Since September 2025, MTN reportedly expanded its urban coverage area by 46.7 percent, Airtel by 56.3 percent, Globacom by 67.6 percent, while T2 more than doubled its urban footprint.
Despite this expansion, network congestion is worsening. MTN’s urban download constraints rose to 6.7 percent, while Airtel and Glo recorded 2.6 percent and 2.8 percent respectively. T2 remained at zero percent congestion due to its smaller user base.
According to the report, download capacity is under heavier pressure because of increasing demand for data-intensive activities such as high-definition streaming, gaming, cloud applications, and remote work.
The congestion is especially severe in densely populated urban hubs. In Lagos, pressure points are concentrated around Ikeja and the city’s central corridor, while Abuja is experiencing similar challenges in Gwarinpa and central districts.
The reports conclude that Nigeria now faces a telecom paradox: while rural communities are benefiting from unprecedented improvements in connectivity and digital inclusion, urban centres risk declining quality of service unless operators sustain heavy infrastructure investments to match surging demand.
