African countries smaller than Anambra have faster internet than Nigeria

BUSINESS DAY

African countries that are smaller than Anambra State in land mass and slightly bigger than Lagos record faster internet speed than Nigeria, the continent’s most populous nation, BusinessDay has learnt.

Nigeria’s internet speed of 27.62 megabits per second (Mbps) ranks 132nd globally in a survey by Cable.co.uk, which evaluated 220 countries, according to the 2024 Worldwide Broadband Speed Report.

The nation’s current internet speed exceeds its 2025 target of 25 Mbps set in the 2020–2025 Nigerian National Broadband Plan. However, it lags behind Réunion, South Africa (42.42 Mbps), Eswatini (37.23 Mbps), Rwanda (32.69 Mbps), Mauritius, and Botswana (29.52 Mbps).

Réunion, with a landmass of 2,512 km², has an internet speed of 63.29 Mbps, while Mauritius, ranked 5th, with a landmass of 2,040 km², boasts an internet speed of 31.12 Mbps. Nigeria’s 27.62 Mbps is dwarfed by the internet speed of these nations.

Land masses of these nations pale when compared to Anambra’s 4,844 km². Despite a larger landmass than Lagos (1,171 km²), Réunion’s internet outpaces Nigeria commercial capital’s, which recorded a speed of 43.60 Mbps for mobile and 27.37 Mbps for fixed broadband in June 2024, according to Speedtest Global Index by Ookla.

The Worldwide Broadband Speed Report revealed that a 5GB movie could be downloaded in 10 minutes and 47 seconds in Réunion, 21 minutes and 56 seconds in Mauritius, but 24 minutes and 43 seconds in Nigeria (which has a landmass of 923,768 km²).

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