- The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has authorised a three-year national roaming deal that lets 9Mobile customers roam on MTN’s network across Nigeria.
- Roughly 2.8 million 9Mobile users—just 1.7 % of the market—stand to gain instant coverage in rural and peri-urban “no-service” zones.
- MTN says sharing its 90 million-line footprint will cut industry costs and advance the regulator’s infrastructure-sharing agenda.
- The pact supports 9Mobile’s $3 billion turnaround plan and could slow years of subscriber losses.
Under the arrangement, 9Mobile subscribers can automatically connect to MTN towers wherever their network is unavailable, paying home-network rates while enjoying MTN’s wider 2G-to-4G footprint.
For millions of 9Mobile customers, particularly in underserved northern and south-south corridors, the deal should translate into fewer dropped calls, faster data speeds and the ability to keep a single SIM active while travelling.
MTN controls more than half of Nigeria’s 172 million active mobile lines, covering settlements many operators still view as commercially marginal. By piggy-backing on that reach, 9Mobile can promise seamless service in a short time—something spectrum swaps or costly tower builds would take years to deliver.
Why 9Mobile needs it
Once a fast-growing challenger, 9Mobile’s subscriber base has collapsed from over 13 million to about 3.4 million—now a mere 2.15% market share—due to debt, ownership issues, and inconsistent service quality that drove customers away.
Chief executive Obafemi Banigbe’s $3 billion recovery blueprint banks on “build where we must, share where we can”. National roaming ticks that second box, lowering capital outlay, just as high interest rates make new borrowing painful.
What MTN and the NCC get
For MTN, renting excess capacity is an easy new revenue stream that does not cannibalise its core business; the company has long argued that “network-as-a-service” is smarter than outright acquisitions.
Regulators view roaming as a means to promote universal access to telecommunications without instigating price-cutting wars that could jeopardise profit margins. In 2020, the commission initiated a roaming test between MTN and 9Mobile in Ondo State and has since encouraged competitors to adopt tower and fibre-sharing models.
Looking ahead
If the collaboration stabilises 9Mobile’s finances and lifts customer satisfaction, it could become the template for Nigeria’s fragmented telecoms sector, especially as smaller regional players and incoming Mobile Virtual Network Operators hunt for cost-effective coverage.
The real test will be how quickly 9Mobile converts broader signal bars into paying users, but for now, the message is clear: survival may hinge less on building more towers and more on smart partnerships that keep phones—literally—connected
