Telcos connect 7.2m Nigerians to 5G as teledensity grows by 1.19%

Telecommunication operators with the fifth generation (5G) licences have connected 7.2 million Nigerians to the network.

The 7.2 million is 3.94 per cent of the current 182 million active telephone users in the country.

The technology, which is now about three and a half years old in the country, remained largely concentrated in urban areas. After paying over $820 million for licences in 2022 and 2023, MTN, Mafab Communications and Airtel continued to expand the network in the country.

MTN Nigeria, which paid $273.6 million for the licence and an additional $15.9 million as an assignment fee to secure its preferred frequency slot (Lot 1), continues to lead with the widest 5G coverage and the largest overall subscriber base.

Airtel Nigeria has doubled its active 5G sites across 20 major cities to accommodate a 46 per cent surge in data traffic. It emerged as the sole bidder in the second phase, held in January 2023 and paid $316.7 million. The higher price tag was because it was a “bundle” deal; it included the 5G spectrum (100MHz in the 3.5GHz band) and additional spectrum to improve their existing 4G network (2x5MHz in the 2600MHz band).

For Mafab Communications, which paid $273.6 million, nothing, in terms of connectivity, has been heard from the operator.

Further industry review based on the latest NCC data and industry reports, for early 2026, even in the most “connected” cities in Nigeria, 5G is often unavailable.

The data revealed that approximately 55.4 per cent of the state still lacks 5G coverage.

In late 2025, this gap was as high as 70.9 per cent, showing that while telcos are expanding, more than half of the commercial capital is still a ‘5G blackspot.’ About 47.4 per cent of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) remained without 5G access.

There is still the device gap. The industry data showed that roughly 50 per cent of Nigerians, who actually own 5G-enabled smartphones, cannot use the 5G network because they live or work in areas where the signal doesn’t reach.

Largely, there is still rural and semi-urban Exclusion. Outside of major tier-1 cities (Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano), 5G is virtually non-existent.

The NCC has identified 87 specific clusters, covering roughly 23 million Nigerians who are currently underserved or completely unserved by high-speed broadband.

Most rural communities are still entirely dependent on 2G and 3G networks. While 4G has reached many semi-urban areas, 5G infrastructure (which requires a high density of towers) is currently not economically viable for telcos to deploy in low-population rural zones.

Further, connectivity isn’t just about where people live, but where they travel. The NCC recently flagged that approximately 326 kilometres of major road networks in Nigeria have zero network coverage of any kind (not even 2G), let alone 5G.

Meanwhile, the nation’s teledensity, that is, the number of active telephone connections per 100 inhabitants, leapt by 1.19 per cent, reaching a high of 84.06 per cent in January 2026. This indicates that telecom services are becoming more accessible even in previously underserved regions. This is largely enabled by older generations, including 4G, 2G and 3G.

4G remained the dominant force with 53.41 per cent market share, as it is the primary choice for reliable mobile broadband. 2G is second with 36.97 per cent share, primarily serving voice-only users and basic mobile devices, and 3G, which is slowly fading into the background at 5.67 per cent.