Nigeria’s mobile network performance showed clear signs of improvement in the fourth quarter of 2025, with users recording faster speeds, more stable connections, and a narrowing quality gap between urban and rural areas, according to the National Mobile Network Performance Report.
The report, developed by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in partnership with Ookla, draws on real-world, crowdsourced data to assess how Nigerians actually experienced mobile connectivity between October and December 2025. The initiative forms part of the NCC’s Quality of Service and Quality of Experience (QoS/QoE) Crowdsourcing Project, a core pillar of the Commission’s push toward more transparent, evidence-based telecom regulation.
Rather than focusing solely on coverage expansion, the Q4 2025 report places emphasis on lived user experience—how quickly web pages load, how reliably videos stream, and how stable networks perform during everyday digital activities.
4G Remains Central to Consumer Experience
The report shows that while 5G deployment continued to expand during the quarter, the mobile experience for most users in Q4 2025 was still largely shaped by the performance of 4G networks. In contrast, areas dependent on 2G and 3G technologies continued to record slower page load times and reduced service quality.
According to the data, 4G and 5G networks achieved page load times of between two and three seconds, compared with more than ten seconds on legacy networks, underscoring the impact of technology choice on user experience.
Urban Areas Maintain Performance Lead
Urban centres continued to outperform rural areas across most performance indicators. Average download speeds in major cities, including Lagos and Abuja, were approximately 22 percent higher than those recorded in rural local government areas.
However, the report also points to a narrowing gap in video streaming quality. The difference between urban and rural video experience scores stood at about two percent in Q4 2025, suggesting increasingly even access to basic video services nationwide.
How Network Metrics Affected Daily Use
Key performance indicators measured during the quarter included download speed, latency, and jitter, all of which directly influence everyday digital activities such as browsing, streaming, and video calls.
MTN recorded the strongest overall results in browsing performance and video quality, supported by higher average download speeds and lower latency levels. Airtel posted competitive performance, particularly in upload speeds, while T2 delivered high peak download speeds in select states such as Anambra and Oyo. Glo continued to provide broad baseline connectivity, with notable regional strengths.
These variations highlight the uneven distribution of network performance across operators and locations during the review period.
Emerging Industry Trends
Beyond consumer experience, the Q4 2025 findings point to several broader industry trends. Network stability—measured through latency and jitter—is becoming increasingly important as demand grows for video calls, online gaming, and other real-time applications.
The data also shows that upload speeds remain relatively low across the industry, averaging between 11 and 12 Mbps, which could constrain the expansion of remote work and the digital creator economy.
In addition, performance gaps were more evident in areas with historically lower network density and higher infrastructure deployment challenges, underscoring the need for targeted investment to support more balanced national connectivity.
Outlook
The Q4 2025 findings underline a clear shift in Nigeria’s telecom landscape. As coverage becomes more widespread, network quality and consistency are emerging as the primary measures of performance for both consumers and regulators.
For users, the data reinforces the importance of 4G- and 5G-capable devices in unlocking better internet experiences. For operators, the report highlights the growing need to prioritise network stability, upload capacity, and targeted investment in underserved areas.
