Only 0.1% of Major Roads Lack Mobile Service, NCC Claims
Nigeria’s major highways now enjoy near-universal mobile network coverage, but natural terrain and environmental barriers continue to undermine service quality in several regions, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
Presenting the commission’s Fourth Quarter 2025 Industry Network Performance Report, NCC Director of Technical Standards and Network Integrity, Edoyemi Ogoh, said just 0.1 per cent of surveyed roads recorded complete service outages — a milestone in nationwide deployment.
However, Ogoh noted that hills, dense forests and difficult terrain still degrade signal strength, particularly in border communities and rural areas, causing service instability and occasional downgrades from 4G to older networks.
To address these gaps, the NCC is pushing for wider deployment of low-band spectrum such as 700MHz, which offers deeper signal penetration and broader coverage with fewer base stations. The strategy aligns with Nigeria’s Draft Spectrum Roadmap for 2025–2030.
Data from crowdsourced platforms like Ookla showed strong connectivity along major economic corridors linking Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt, while weaker performance persisted in less secure and sparsely populated regions.
