The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says about half of Nigerians with 5G-enabled devices cannot access the network due to coverage gaps across the country.
Edoyemi Ogoh, director of technical standards and network integrity at the commission, disclosed this on Wednesday while presenting the fourth quarter (Q4) 2025 industry performance report.
“About 50 percent of Nigerians with 5G devices don’t have access to 5G service,” Ogoh said.
“This means there is no 5G service in the areas where they want to basically utilise it. So, there is still a gap in the 5G coverage.”
He highlighted a persistent latency gap between urban and rural areas, noting that city users experience better network performance than those in rural communities.
Ogoh said telecom operators such as MTN, Airtel and Glo perform relatively well on latency in urban centres, with MTN leading the pack.
“MTN and Airtel are doing pretty okay in rural areas, but Glo and T2 still need to improve,” he added.
High latency, Ogoh said, affects video streaming, video calls, and content uploads, particularly for rural subscribers.
On the digital divide, he said data shows faster improvements in urban centres compared to rural areas.
The median download speed in urban areas increased from 19 Mbps in Q3 2025 to 20.5 Mbps in Q4, while rural download speeds declined over the same period.
The upload speed gap between urban and rural areas also widened, rising 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,” Ogoh said.
He attributed the gains to operators adding over 2,800 sites in the last year, most of which were in urban centres.
Despite the progress, Ogoh said 5G remains underperforming due to limited coverage.
He noted that while 5G delivers faster speeds where available, many users can access the service only in select locations, such as offices, with weaker home experiences.
The director said 5G coverage gaps in Lagos fell from 70.9 percent in Q3 to 55.4 percent in Q4, while Abuja’s gap declined from 65.6 percent to 47.4 percent.
“Obviously, there is still some gap to go, but we are in the right direction,” he said.
Ogoh raised concerns about road network coverage, noting that 326 kilometres of roads remain without service.
He said 4G continues to underpin Nigeria’s data ecosystem, accounting for about 97 percent of quality service experiences on roads.
Ogoh urged telecom operators to expand 5G coverage nationwide, upgrade rural sites to at least 4G, and address latency issues to improve network performance significantly.