Airtel Nigeria Expands Network to All 774 Local Government Areas

Airtel Networks Limited has expanded its infrastructure to surpass 17,000 cell sites, achieving coverage across all 774 Local Government Areas in Nigeria. The operator added more than 1,050 new sites during the 2025-26 financial year, contributing to a total growth of approximately 2,000 sites over the last two years. While more than 99 percent of these sites are 4G-enabled, the company integrated over 1,000 new 5G sites over the past year to address a 30.8% increase in monthly data usage per customer.

The expansion specifically targets urban centers and underserved rural communities in states including Borno, Edo, Niger, Oyo, Benue, and Kwara. To support bandwidth-intensive services such as AI and cloud applications, the company upgraded capacity on roughly 25 percent of existing sites in 2025 and added 20MHz of spectrum since November 2025 to improve service quality and resilience.

Company leadership stated that these investments aim to facilitate broader participation in the digital economy, specifically benefiting sectors such as agriculture, healthcare, and digital commerce. The deployment of 5G is intended to provide a richer digital experience for businesses and individuals as Nigeria transitions toward a more integrated digital economy.