The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has rallied telecom operators in the country on the need to close the connectivity gap.

Lamenting the ever-widening disparity between urban and rural connectivity in the country, NCC said the disparity is more evident in parts of the country with historically lower network density and higher infrastructure deployment challenges, underscoring the need to close the 40 per cent performance gap for more balanced national connectivity.

The Commission, which disclosed this yesterday while reviewing the quarter four 2025 Market Data and Industry Performance report, said operators must optimise for stability (jitter/latency), not just speed, to support the growing demand for video calls and gaming.

“Improve upload speeds (currently lagging at11-12 Mbps) to support the creator economy and remote work,” it stated.

Executive Commissioner, Technical Services, Abraham Oshadami, said: “We believe that open access to information strengthens the industry, builds public trust, and reinforces accountability among operators. It is for this reason that the Commission continues to proactively share data and insights on industry performance, not only to support informed decision-making but also to ensure that service providers remain accountable to consumers.

“Last year, the Commission deepened this commitment by partnering with Ookla to develop nationwide Network Coverage Maps. These maps provide consumers with an objective tool to compare network quality across locations and operators. As part of this same partnership, we commenced the publication of Quarterly Network Performance Reports, designed to offer consistent, data-driven insights into how networks are performing across the country.”

Indeed, in the Q4 report, the NCC data showed that Nigeria’s digital landscape is undergoing a high-speed transformation, with 5G technology now delivering page load times of just two to three seconds.

While 5G is setting new benchmarks for speed, the report highlighted a significant performance gap that remained between urban and rural areas. Urban centres like Lagos and Abuja currently enjoy download speeds of 35.52 Mbps, outperforming rural regions (27.67 Mbps) by approximately 22 per cent.

The data identifies key strengths among Nigeria’s major service providers. As of Q4 2025, MTN emerged as the leader in infrastructure depth and 5G deployment, topping the charts for web browsing and video streaming scores. Airtel was noted for its balanced performance, particularly in the south, and a strong uplink speed of 8.6 Mbps.

T2, last quarter, showcased localised dominance with massive download peaks in Anambra (82.3 Mbps) and Oyo (80 Mbps).

Glo remained a vital provider for baseline connectivity, with notable success in video streaming in regions like Sokoto South.

The report suggested that headline speeds are no longer the only metric that matters. According to it, for modern users reliant on video calls and gaming, latency and jitter (network stability) have become just as critical as raw download capacity.

While the urban-rural divide for basic video access is narrowing with only a two per cent gap in quality, telephone users on 3G in the country are encouraged to move to 4G/5G devices to slash load times from over 10 seconds to under three seconds.

The NCC noted that further analysis of the networks showed that in terms of download speed, MTN averages 28.6Mbps; Airtel and T2 average 20Mbps and these impact lives by ensuring users can download large files or apps.

In terms of responsiveness, MTN showed a loaded latency of 787ms; Airtel and T2 are under 1000 ms. This means that the lower latency reduces the delay when users click a link or send a message. For stability, the NCC said MTN and T2 maintain jitter levels between 11.2 and 11.6 ms, which helps prevent ‘freezing’ during live video calls or streaming services.