About 78% of Nigeria’s main roads now have cell sign, reflecting rising funding in telecom infrastructure whilst protection gaps persist, in keeping with a brand new trade efficiency report by the Nigerian Communications Fee (NCC).
Whereas nominal protection is excessive, solely round 42% of those corridors supply secure, high-speed 4G or 5G connectivity, highlighting a niche between community presence and repair high quality.
Thousands and thousands of Nigerians depend on cell networks whereas on the transfer, together with farmers transporting items to city markets, safety operatives monitoring highways, and emergency providers responding to accidents.
“There’s a vital want for shifting items and basic logistics, and connectivity performs a central position in that,” Umar S. Abdullahi, Particular Adviser (Technical), Workplace of the Govt Vice Chairman of the NCC, stated throughout the presentation of the report on Wednesday, January 28, 2026.
That 78% of Nigeria’s main roads now have cell connectivity issues as a result of being linked on the transfer underpins security, commerce, and each day financial exercise. As thousands and thousands of Nigerians journey highways to maneuver items, reply to emergencies, or safe key corridors, cell networks have turn into as vital to nationwide functioning because the roads themselves.
The report categorised the nation’s roads not by the normal federal or state designation, however into three sensible classes: trunk, main, and secondary routes. Trunk roads join main cities and financial corridors; main roads serve city centres, whereas secondary roads hyperlink smaller cities and rural communities.
Utilizing geospatial mapping and crowdsourced machine information, the NCC stated it assessed each sign energy and high quality to find out precise service availability.
Gaps and black spots
The report identifies important black spots the place cell connectivity is weak or nonexistent.
Over 120 “vital black spots” had been flagged, outlined as freeway sections longer than 5 kilometres with whole sign loss, principally concentrated within the North-Central and South-East areas.
The audit additionally discovered that the common dropped-call fee alongside high-speed corridors stands at 4.5%, greater than 4 instances increased than the nationwide goal of lower than 1%.
Abdullahi stated that whereas the financial corridors round Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt get pleasure from sturdy alerts, border cities and rural areas typically endure from poor service. He defined that main roads have comparatively higher protection, whereas secondary roads are extra sporadic as a consequence of their unfold throughout lower-density areas.
Trunk roads, typically high-speed interstate highways, face the best problem in sustaining constant sign energy as a result of issue of sustaining protection alongside lengthy, fast-moving routes.
Infrastructure and safety challenges
The report highlights a number of obstacles to attaining constant cell service alongside Nigeria’s highways. Vandalism is a significant concern; freeway base stations are thrice extra prone to be tampered with or have their batteries stolen than city websites.
Energy provide is one other vital difficulty. Over 90% of freeway towers rely solely on diesel turbines, making service upkeep costlier than in cities, in keeping with Abdullahi.
Proper-of-way challenges additional complicate community growth. Regardless of federal directives to streamline entry, some states nonetheless impose excessive charges for laying fibre alongside interstate highways, delaying the deployment of important backhaul infrastructure for 4G and 5G networks. Abdullahi added that environmental elements, similar to hilly and mountainous terrain, additionally have an effect on protection, notably in distant areas.
The NCC stated it has outlined a number of strategic interventions for 2026. One key initiative into account is inter-operator roaming alongside freeway corridors, which might permit a subscriber’s cellphone to robotically change to the strongest out there community in low-coverage areas.
Devoted freeway spectrum is one other precedence, with the NCC planning to assign the 700 MHz and 800 MHz bands to operators that decide to end-to-end protection on main routes. As a result of these low-frequency bands journey lengthy distances and penetrate obstacles, they’re well-suited to delivering constant, wide-area cell protection alongside highways and throughout rural corridors.
The fee can be exploring colocation incentives for infrastructure firms (Infracos), encouraging the event of passive towers and energy programs alongside highways to scale back prices for cell operators.
Influence on security and the financial system
Poor freeway connectivity has direct penalties for security and financial exercise. Within the occasion of accidents or safety incidents, delayed communication can hinder emergency response, probably worsening outcomes.
From an financial perspective, enhancing connectivity on main roads is projected to spice up Nigeria’s GDP by as much as 0.5%, enabling real-time logistics monitoring and data-driven decision-making for enterprise travellers and transport operators, in keeping with the fee.
Abdullahi defined that the NCC’s report gives the technical basis for enforcement underneath the federal government’s 90-day framework. Operators that fail to resolve recognized black spots throughout the stipulated interval might face sanctions, representing a vital step in holding service suppliers accountable.
Efficiency throughout networks
The NCC’s evaluation additionally in contrast protection throughout operators. MTN emerged with the widest attain throughout main, secondary, and trunk roads, adopted by Airtel and T2, that are extra closely concentrated in city areas.
The report emphasises that whereas 5G networks ship the strongest sign when out there, their protection is restricted, accounting for simply 13% of the nationwide community. 4G stays essentially the most dependable choice for constant connectivity on the transfer.
Crowdsourced machine information offered an correct measure of real-world efficiency, revealing areas the place nominal protection exists however service high quality is low. Sign energy and high quality had been measured utilizing normal metrics, with alerts beneath minus 100 dBm (decibels referenced to 1 milliwatt (mW), thought of inadequate for dependable use. The information point out that whereas most roads are nominally lined, guaranteeing usable connectivity stays a problem.
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