Enextgen Wireless has published its Mobile Broadband (MBB) Report for August 2025, providing fresh insight into the quality of experience (QoE) on Nigeria’s major mobile networks and calling for more consistent, data-driven monitoring of service quality, irrespective of vandalism incidents affecting infrastructure.
The report acknowledges that vandalism of network equipment remains a serious challenge for operators and the industry at large, describing it as a criminal act that should be swiftly prosecuted.
However, it warns against using vandalism as a blanket explanation for poor network performance.
“A standing tower with a faulty mains rectifier left unfixed provides no better coverage than one destroyed by vandalism,” the report released Enextgen Wireless led by Engineer Aderemi Adeyeye notes, stressing that ongoing measurement of user experience is essential to truly assess the impact of vandalism on network quality.
Key Findings (August 2025):
Coverage and Signal Strength: It could be deduced from the report that MTN’s 5G network posted the strongest RSRP (−89 dBm), indicating better signal quality than Airtel (−96 dBm on 5G) and Globacom (−97 dBm on LTE).
RSRP refers to Reference Signal Received Power; a key metric in cellular networks (like 4G and 5G) that measures the power of the specific reference signals broadcast by a cell tower and received by your device.
Network Quality (SINR & RSRQ): MTN 5G also led with a 17 dB SINR, a key metric for data throughput and user experience, followed by Airtel 5G at 15 dB.
SINR or Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise Ratio is a key metric in wireless communications that measures the strength of a desired signal relative to the combined power of all interfering signals and background noise.
A higher SINR value indicates a better quality wireless connection, leading to more stable and faster data transfer speeds, fewer dropped calls, and improved customer satisfaction
Latency: Airtel LTE delivered the lowest average latency at 73 ms, ahead of MTN 5G (78 ms). By comparison, MTN LTE posted 165 ms, which could translate to slower response times in real-world applications.
Connection Reliability: Globacom LTE achieved the lowest call drop rate (1.39%), while MTN LTE had the highest (4.21%), exceeding the target of <1%.
Internet Access Success Rate: Interestingly, the report indicates none of the operators reached the benchmark target of 99.90% access success rate, underscoring room for improvement in network availability and consistency.
Industry Context & Recommendations
Enextgen argues that independent, regular measurement is critical to holding operators accountable for service quality. It calls for a framework where both operators’ profit motives and subscribers’ right to reliable service are protected.
“As MNOs’ right to focus on their bottom line is protected, so too should the right of ordinary subscribers to value for fees paid,” the report sighted byTecheconomy states.
The findings come amid increased regulatory and public pressure on Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to improve user experience, as well as concerns over the economic cost of poor connectivity on businesses and individuals.
The Bottom Line
While infrastructure vandalism remains a threat to Nigeria’s telecoms sector, quality of experience issues cannot be fully attributed to vandalism.
Instead, Enextgen calls for data-driven transparency to pinpoint gaps in service delivery, benchmark performance, and guide both industry and policy interventions for better broadband outcomes.
