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September 28, 2026

Subscribers lament as Nigeria’s 5G network delivers poorly

By Upfrontdigital News 0 3 Views

By Favour Unukaso

NIGERIA’s mobile operators are facing a storm of consumer anger as frustration mounts over rising tariffs, patchy 5G coverage, and a widening gap between promises and reality. Despite billions poured into infrastructure, users say they are paying more for services that still fail to deliver consistent speed or reliability.

Fresh data from Ookla Speedtest Intelligence paints a grim picture. Consumer rating scores, which measures how users feel about their Internet service provider immediately after a test, have slipped from 3.4 in 2022 to just 3.0 in 2026. Net Promoter Score (NPS), which gauges whether customers would recommend their provider, has collapsed from -15.6 to as low as -34.3.

Ookla noted: “Anecdotal evidence points to increased customer frustration while mobile tariffs increased.”

In the document made available to UpfrontDigital, Monday, the discontent coincides with a government‑approved 50 per cent hike in mobile tariffs in early 2025, a move that has hit lower‑income users hardest. For many, the dream of ultra‑fast 5G has become unaffordable. Even those who own 5G‑enabled devices often stick to 4G, which now covers nearly the entire country, because data costs remain prohibitive.

The document observed that when 5G launched in 2022, it promised blazing speeds. Early tests showed median downloads of 329 Mbps. Ookla noted that but by 2026, that figure had plummeted to 155 Mbps, while adoption barely reached 4.6 per cent of connections. Operators point to expanded coverage, from 11.3 per cent of scanned locations in 2023 to 28.9 per cent in 2026, yet consumers remain unconvinced.

“The network remains largely under‑utilized,” the report concedes, citing the high cost of 5G phones and data.

The frustration is not just about affordability. Performance gaps between cities and rural areas persist. Urban users see download speeds between 17–24 Mbps, while rural Nigerians scrape by with 14–21 Mbps. Upload speeds show a similar disparity, leaving rural communities at a disadvantage in an increasingly digital economy.

Nonetheless, overall median mobile speeds rose from 18.94 Mbps in 2022 to 26.22 Mbps in 2026, placing Nigeria ahead of many East and Central African peers. But perception tells a different story. Consumers feel they are paying more for less, and trust in providers is eroding fast.

Largely, it can be deduced that Nigeria’s mobile market is at a crossroads. 2G and 3G are fading, 4G dominates, and 5G is slowly expanding. Yet unless affordability improves and performance gains are felt beyond Lagos and Abuja, the consumer backlash may deepen. For now, the verdict from users is clear and it is that the future of mobile connectivity feels like a broken promise.

For operators, the challenge is no longer just about rolling out towers and spectrum, it’s about convincing Nigerians that the future of mobile connectivity is worth the cost.

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