Nigeria’s main highways and intercity roads now get pleasure from virtually full cell community protection, with simply 0.1 per cent of surveyed routes recording complete service gaps, in response to the Nigerian Communications Fee’s fourth-quarter 2025 business community efficiency report.
Regardless of this near-universal protection, the regulator has cautioned that tough terrain and environmental situations proceed to have an effect on sign high quality and trigger intermittent connectivity, significantly in rural, border and hard-to-reach areas.
The findings have been offered on Wednesday throughout a stakeholder briefing by Umar Abdullahi, particular adviser on technical issues to the NCC’s government vice chairman, Aminu Maida.
He defined that whereas trunk, main and secondary roads throughout the nation present sturdy total protection, customers usually expertise weak or unstable alerts in difficult geographies.
Crowdsourced information from platforms equivalent to Ookla, mixed with geospatial street mapping, confirmed that key {economic} corridors — together with Lagos–Abuja–Port Harcourt — get pleasure from sturdy and constant connectivity. Nevertheless, the identical evaluation revealed persistent service challenges in border cities and insecure rural areas.
“These gaps aren’t about absence of infrastructure however about propagation challenges. Hills, timber, and terrain create pure boundaries that higher-frequency bands battle to beat,” Abdullahi defined throughout the session.
He famous that 4G stays probably the most reliable nationwide know-how, supporting voice calls, streaming and information companies. Nevertheless, in tough environments, its efficiency weakens, forcing units to fall again on older 3G or 2G networks.
In keeping with the report, about 326 kilometres of main roads fall inside zero-service zones — a small fraction of Nigeria’s greater than 290,000 kilometres of roads. Even so, the NCC noticed that high quality indicators equivalent to sign power and sign high quality range broadly relying on location.
Whereas high-speed interstate trunk roads recorded the bottom compliance ranges resulting from decrease person density, secondary roads serving native communities carried out higher total. Stakeholders on the briefing raised considerations about persistent sign fluctuations alongside corridors equivalent to Benin and in states together with Niger, Ekiti, Osun and Ondo.
Responding, Abdullahi mentioned the Fee depends on detailed mapping and crowdsourced analytics to work with operators on focused interventions, moderately than focusing solely on protection statistics. He added that alternate options equivalent to microwave backhaul, as an alternative of fibre-only options, have been being thought-about for distant areas.
As a part of its response, the NCC is prioritising low-band spectrum — together with sub-1 GHz frequencies equivalent to 700 MHz and ongoing discussions round 600 MHz — to enhance protection penetration and prolong attain with fewer base stations.
This technique aligns with the Fee’s Draft Spectrum Roadmap for the Communications Sector (2025–2030), which tasks vital progress in cell subscriptions from about 171.6 million in 2025 to roughly 220 million by 2030, alongside a tripling of knowledge visitors to 31.7 exabytes.
The roadmap additionally recommends releasing “second digital dividend” bands equivalent to 450 MHz and 600 MHz to hurry up rural broadband deployment, decrease rollout prices, help 4G densification and allow 5G enlargement in city centres.
Director of Technical Requirements and Community Integrity on the NCC, Edoyemi Ogoh, famous that cell working licences carry nationwide obligations, though deployment sometimes prioritises densely populated areas.
To handle connectivity gaps affecting mobility, the Fee has launched the Aeronautical Station Emission framework, issuing licences for broadband companies on trains, buses, maritime vessels and plane, whereas complementing terrestrial networks with satellite tv for pc options.
Regardless of ongoing challenges, the NCC expressed optimism about progress within the sector. Broadband penetration exceeded 50 per cent in 2025, whereas median 4G speeds improved following latest spectrum trades, together with offers involving MTN, T2 and 9mobile.
The Fee mentioned it could proceed utilizing data-driven monitoring, sustained engagement with operators and coverage instruments such because the Spectrum Roadmap, whereas inviting additional stakeholder enter to assist shut remaining protection gaps and help Nigeria’s digital economic system aims underneath the Renewed Hope Agenda.