After investing over $120 million within the 5G community, MTN Nigeria now has the quickest obtain and add speeds within the West and Central African (WCA) area, in line with the newest Ookla Speedtest Intelligence knowledge. 

In Q2 2024, the telco’s obtain pace rose to 95.62 megabits per second (Mbps) – a typical unit of measurement for web pace. It additionally recorded an add pace of 17.01 Mbps, its highest up to now. 

That is nice information for MTN Nigeria’s 2.6 million 5G subscribers who want high-speed web. It’ll additionally place the telco as a extra enticing possibility for potential subscribers. MTN Nigeria holds a 50% share of the nation’s telecom market.

MTN Nigeria leads different subsidiaries inside the MTN Group, together with MTN Ghana, MTN Benin, MTN Côte d’Ivoire, and MTN Cameroon in obtain and add speeds. The telco additionally leads rivals reminiscent of Airtel with a median obtain pace of 30.35 Mbps and add pace of 10.28 Mbps, the very best for 4G networks as of 2022.

The telco launched its 5G community in September 2022. Initially masking seven main cities—Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, Kano, Owerri, and Maiduguri—the community expanded considerably inside a 12 months. By 2023, MTN Nigeria prolonged 5G protection to 11% of the inhabitants, backed by an infrastructure funding of over $120 million. MTN Nigeria has deployed over 2,100 5G websites nationwide since its launch. 

“The influence of 5G has up to now been restricted to Nigeria as it’s nonetheless in its early levels in a lot of the area. MTN is eager to broaden 5G protection to the remainder of its footprint, following the examples of Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire, whereas persevering with to put money into its 4G community infrastructure,” Karim Yaici, lead business Analyst at Ookla, stated.

MTN Nigeria didn’t instantly reply to requests for feedback. 

In accordance with Ookla Speedtest Intelligence, 5G penetration in Nigeria grew from 17.2% in Q1 2023 to 35.70% in Q2 2024, surpassing South Africa’s 31.6%. Whereas MTN Nigeria and Airtel have commercially launched 5G companies, MTN leads with essentially the most in depth community protection. ISP Mafab Communication, which secured a 5G license in December 2021, is but to roll out its service.

As of September 2024, Nigeria had 3.3 million 5G subscribers, representing 2.19% of the nation’s 154.9 million lively cell subscribers, in line with the Nigerian Communications Fee (NCC). MTN dominates the 5G market with 2.6 million subscribers, accounting for about 79% of 5G customers within the nation.