BY OUR TECH CORRESPONDENT
NIGERIA is officially the “Speed King” of West Africa after leaving its neighbors in the digital dust.
New data from web-whizzes Ookla has revealed that the African giant is now pumping out a blistering average download speed of 46.77 Mbps.
While other nations are still waiting for their pages to load, Nigerians are streaming, surfing, and zooming ahead of the pack.
The latest Global Speedtest rankings show that the country has secured the top spot in the West African region, proving that when it comes to the web, Lagos really does load largest.
But while Nigeria is the regional heavyweight, it’s still got some catching up to do on the rest of the continent.
Industry experts say the boost is down to massive investments in 5G and fiber-optic cables snaking through the country’s bustling cities.
However, the race isn’t over yet—with North African rivals like Morocco and South African stalwarts still nipping at their heels in the all-Africa rankings.
For now, though, the message to the rest of West Africa is clear: Catch us if you can!
The data comes from Ookla, the global leader in network intelligence and connectivity insights.
Their “Speedtest Global Index” is the industry gold standard for measuring how fast (or slow) a country’s internet actually is.
Nigeria’s speed of 46.77 Mbps is a significant milestone for West Africa, where infrastructure challenges often lead to sluggish connections.
Nigeria is currently one of only a handful of Sub-Saharan countries to break into the global top 100 for mobile speeds.
While Nigeria leads the West, the continental crown is often a battle between Morocco (frequently #1 in Africa with speeds over 100 Mbps) and South Africa.
The jump is largely attributed to the rollout of 5G technology by major providers like MTN and Airtel, alongside a “fiber fever” that has seen more businesses and homes connected to high-speed cables following approval by the Telecom regulator, Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC.
