After two decades, Nigeria’s 3G era is nearing its final call

For nearly two decades, 3G was the network that moved Nigeria from a voice-first telecom market into a mobile internet economy.

The journey began in 2006 when telecom operator Starcomms launched Nigeria’s first 3G service using Evolution-Data Optimised (EV-DO) technology. Initially designed for laptop data cards and USB modems, the service offered an early glimpse of a future where internet access would no longer be confined to cybercafés and office connections. 

Built on 3G technology—the third generation of mobile networks that enabled faster internet access, calls, and data services than 2G—it marked the beginning of Nigeria’s mobile broadband era. 

While Starcomms would eventually fade from the market and shut down in August 2012 amid fierce competition from GSM operators, its early investment helped pave the way for the country’s internet revolution.

The arrival of mass-market 3G networks a year later accelerated that transformation. It powered the BlackBerry era, drove smartphone adoption, and provided the digital rails on which many of Nigeria’s earliest Internet businesses were built. For 32 million Nigerians actively connected to GSM by the end of 2006, 3G was their first real experience of the Internet.

Now, the technology that helped launch Nigeria’s digital revolution is approaching the end of its life.

MTN Group, the continent’s largest operator, plans to shut down some of its 3G networks before 2030 as telcos across Africa move customers to newer technologies such as 4G and 5G. While no formal timeline has been announced for Nigeria, the direction of travel is clear: 3G’s role in the telecom industry is rapidly shrinking.

“The focus today for us is really on 3G shutdown,” said Selorm Adadevoh, MTN Group’s chief commercial, strategy and transformation officer, during the company’s Capital Markets Day on June 11, 2026, which TechCabal monitored online.

“We should have quite a robust plan between now and 2030 to shut down some of our 3G networks,” he said. “From a technology and commercial basis, we actually do have readiness in some of our markets.”

For telecom operators, the goal is to repurpose the 3G network assets it occupies. 

“With fewer users on 3G, telcos are committing resources to a network that no longer delivers adequate returns,” Osita Odafi, a telecom industry expert, told TechCabal in an interview. 

“By decommissioning 3G cells, operators can free up spectrum and tower capacity to deploy more 4G and 5G services, where demand and revenue growth are increasingly concentrated.”

The technology that changed everything

In March 2007, the regulator issued four licences in the 2GHz band to MTN Nigeria, Celtel Nigeria (now Airtel), Globacom, and Alheri Engineering, which later became part of Etisalat, and eventually 9mobile, and is now T2 Mobile. Each operator paid $150 million for spectrum rights, generating $600 million for government coffers.

The licences triggered a nationwide race to build the infrastructure needed for a new era of connectivity. By December 18, 2007, operators had begun rolling out commercial 3.5G (HSDPA) services, investing heavily in towers, transmission networks, and fibre backhaul.

Operators upgraded towers, expanded transmission networks, and invested heavily in fibre infrastructure to support growing demand for data services.

The timing could not have been better.

The arrival of 3G coincided with the global smartphone boom. BlackBerry devices became a cultural phenomenon among Nigerian professionals and students. BBM transformed communication habits. Android smartphones followed, opening internet access to millions more users.

By 2014 and 2015, 3G accounted for an estimated 45% to 50% of active mobile connections in Nigeria, making it the dominant technology for Internet access, according to GSMA Intelligence Data.

The network became the digital infrastructure behind Nigeria’s emerging tech ecosystem. Online media platforms, e-commerce startups, fintech companies, and digital communities all grew atop 3G connectivity.

Before 3G, Internet access was largely confined to cybercafés. After 3G, it lived in people’s pockets.

Why 3G is disappearing

Despite its historic role, 3G now sits in an uncomfortable position within Nigeria’s telecom ecosystem. It is slower and less efficient than 4G and 5G, yet increasingly difficult to justify commercially. Unlike 2G, which still supports a range of legacy services and remains widely used, 3G offers few advantages to either operators or consumers.

“The way we think about our network infrastructure today, 2G is still a technology that we see as quite relevant going into the future,” MTN’s Adadevoh said. “3G, on the other hand, has an economic equation that is not very promising for us.”

According to NCC data, 3G penetration fell to just 5.32% in April 2026, making it the second least-used mobile technology in the country. By comparison, 4G accounted for 54.41% of connections, while 2G still held a surprisingly large 35.93% share. 

Operators have also spent the last few years aggressively expanding their 4G networks. MTN’s 4G population coverage has surpassed 84.6%, while Airtel Nigeria serves more than 31 million active data subscribers.

Even 5G, which only launched commercially on August 24, 2022, is rapidly closing the gap. NCC data shows 5G penetration reached 4.34% in April 2026, underscoring how quickly users are migrating away from 3G and toward newer, more efficient networks.

Yet some industry experts argue that the decline in usage does not necessarily mean 3G is ready for retirement.

“Do I think we have enough capacity on 4G to make the shutdown call? No, I don’t think so,” said Olajide Mafolabomi, executive director at Cloud Interactive Media Group, a Nigerian technology and digital infrastructure company, and non-executive director at Telserve Networks, a Lagos-based Internet service provider.

While 4G penetration has crossed 50%, Mafolabomi argues that operators need to migrate far more users before they can comfortably switch off 3G.

“Before you can say you have enough of a critical mass on 4G, you need to get to maybe 85% to 90% of connections,” he said.