What’s Good Between 9Mobile and MTN Nigeria? The Rumours and Speculations Fact-Checked

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has granted regulator approval for a national roaming deal between 9Mobile and MTN Nigeria. This deal allows 9mobile subscribers to roam where MTN has coverage and also gives MTN access to use 9mobile’s spectrum to boost their operating capacity.

There are lots of speculations and rumours about the 9Mobile and MTN roaming deal. I am writing this article to clear the air about what is actually going on. Let’s start by getting the big questions out of the way.

Is MTN Nigeria acquiring 9mobile?

No; MTN Nigeria is not acquiring or taking over 9mobile. This deal is not an acquisition in any way.

Is 9mobile acquiring MTN’s spectrum?

No. 9Mobile is not acquiring MTN’s spectrum.

Is MTN acquiring 9mobile’s spectrum?

No. MTN is not acquiring 9mobile’s spectrum.

What the 9Mobile and MTN roaming deal is about

9Mobile has limited spectrum and coverage, which has led to frustration for its subscribers. Subscribers are often unable to make calls, send and receive SMS, and use mobile Internet. This has been going on for a few years now.

MTN has a much wider coverage nationwide – the widest, actually. The roaming deal grants access to 9Mobile subscribers to remain connected when in areas where 9Mobile has no coverage (or poor coverage) by connecting to MTN Nigeria’s network. This roaming connection will happen automatically; the 9Mobile subscriber has nothing to do to make this happen.

With this arrangement, 9Mobile subscribers will no longer experience network outages and will no longer be stranded. In the last five years, 9Mobile has lost a staggering share of its subscribers to network outages and failures, dropping massively from 13 million in 2020 to 2.9 million in 2025. But that does not paint the full picture. At its peak before Etisalat Nigeria became 9Mobile, the telecom operator once had 23 million subscribers in 2015. This deal gives 9Mobile a chance to recover from this near-collapse.

The exit of Etisalat in 2017 meant that the telecom company no longer had access to deep pockets of money required to keep its network running smoothly. It certainly made expansion difficult. This national roaming deal is 9Mobile’s best chance at improving its services and gaining new subscribers without the truckloads of money it would ordinarily need to spend on network capacity maintenance and expansion.

In exchange for this access to its network, MTN Nigeria will have access to 9Mobile’s underutilized or underused spectrum in the 900MHz, 1800MHz, and 2100MHz bands. 9Mobile is not selling their spectrum to MTN. It is not a spectrum sale; NCC has not approved a spectrum sale. This roaming deal is an exchange between the two mobile telecom operators.

This is what the 9Mobile and MTN national roaming deal is all about. It is an exchange of benefits between two collaborators. Want to call it F-W-B? Be my guest. The important thing is to be aware of how it works and what impact it will have on subscribers.

I hope that with these few words of mine, I have been able to clear the air on what the 9Mobile and MTN Nigeria roaming deal is all about. Don’t believe the rumours.