Nigeria’s telecommunications operators invested more than $1 billion in network infrastructure in 2025, underscoring a renewed push to expand coverage and improve service quality following January’s tariff adjustment, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
The disclosure was made by Dr Aminu Maida, Executive Vice Chairman and CEO of the NCC, while presenting insights from the Q4 2025 Network Performance Reports. According to Maida, the investment translated into the deployment of over 2,850 new telecom sites nationwide, aimed at boosting both network capacity and geographic reach.
“This improvement reflected in the Q4 network performance report is a direct outcome of these investments,” Maida said, noting that operators had begun converting higher tariffs into tangible infrastructure expansion.
Rural connectivity improves, but 5G lags behind
The Q4 report paints a mixed picture of Nigeria’s network performance. On one hand, rural connectivity showed measurable improvement, with average download speeds rising to 11.0 Mbps, up from 8.5 Mbps a year earlier. The gains suggest that operators are increasingly directing capacity toward underserved and less congested areas.
On the other hand, 5G rollout remains limited. Nationally, Nigeria still faces a 55% 5G coverage gap, with adoption heavily concentrated in major urban centres. Lagos recorded 5G coverage of 27%, while Abuja stood at 31%, leaving most 5G-capable devices still operating on 4G networks.
Despite these challenges, Maida said the regulator has secured fresh commitments from operators to exceed their 2025 investment levels in 2026, signaling continued capital inflows into network expansion.
“We look forward to continued collaboration with industry stakeholders as we translate these insights into better connectivity, improved service quality, and a more inclusive digital future for all Nigerians,” he added.
Earlier in his New Year address, Maida reiterated the NCC’s focus for 2026, which includes better voice quality, fewer dropped calls, and more consistent data performance across everyday use cases.
How operators spent in 2025
Nigeria’s largest operators directed capital toward a mix of spectrum acquisition, site expansion, fibre rollout, and data centre infrastructure.
MTN Nigeria focused heavily on expanding its 4G and 5G footprint, accelerating fibre-to-the-home deployments, and strengthening backend capacity. A major highlight was the launch of the Dabengwa Data and Cloud Centre, described as West Africa’s largest data centre. MTN also expanded its infrastructure-sharing arrangements with Airtel Nigeria and T2mobile, a strategy aimed at lowering rollout costs while improving nationwide coverage.
Globacom continued to consolidate its position as Nigeria’s second-largest tower operator, supported by increased site deployment. The company’s wholly owned Glo-1 submarine cable is expected to play a central role in its network resilience and data capacity going into 2026.
Airtel Nigeria recorded one of the sharpest capital expenditure increases in the sector. According to Airtel Africa’s financials for the nine months ended December 2025, the group deployed over 2,500 new sites and expanded its fibre backbone by roughly 4,000 kilometres, bringing total fibre length to more than 81,500 km across 14 African markets.
Separate industry data shows that MTN and Airtel alone invested ₦824.7 billion in network expansion and infrastructure development in the first half of 2025.
Persistent structural challenges
Despite heavy capital spending, operators continue to grapple with structural issues that affect network reliability. Fibre cuts, power outages, fuel supply disruptions to base stations, bush fires, vandalism, and resistance from host communities remain persistent challenges.
For operators, these disruptions drive up operating costs; for subscribers, they translate into inconsistent service quality and outages that undermine the benefits of new infrastructure.
Still, the NCC maintains that sustained investment, combined with regulatory pressure on service quality, will be critical to closing Nigeria’s urban–rural connectivity gap and accelerating next-generation network adoption.
As operators prepare to scale investment further in 2026, the regulator’s next test will be ensuring that increased spending delivers visible, everyday improvements for Nigeria’s more than 200 million mobile subscribers.
