The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria has partnered with MTN Nigeria to provide free Wi-Fi services at two of the country's busiest international airports, with the service going live at Murtala Muhammed International Airport's Terminal 2 in Lagos and Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja on 26 June 2026.
FAAN's Managing Director and Chief Executive, Mrs Olubunmi Kuku, who was represented at the Lagos launch ceremony by the Director of Airport Operations, Abdullahi Mahmood, described the initiative as part of the authority's continuing drive to improve passenger experience and expand digital infrastructure at Nigerian airports. The service, which is available to all airport users at no charge, addresses a longstanding complaint among travellers who have cited unreliable or absent internet connectivity at Nigeria's major terminals as a persistent frustration during layovers and waiting periods.
What the Partnership Covers
Under the agreement, MTN Nigeria is providing and maintaining the Wi-Fi infrastructure across the designated terminals, while FAAN is facilitating access to the airport environment and network deployment. MTN Nigeria's Chief Enterprise Business Officer, Lynda Saint-Nwafor, representing the company's Chief Executive Officer Karl Toriola at the launch, said MTN would ensure the service remains reliable and secure for all airport users.
FAAN confirmed that the free Wi-Fi service will be extended to the MMIA temporary departure terminal — the 8,000-square-metre facility deployed to maintain international connectivity during the ongoing Terminal 1 rehabilitation — and to other international airports across the country within the next three months. The authority did not immediately disclose whether the service would be subject to time limits per user or bandwidth restrictions, and a spokesperson did not respond to questions on the point at the time of the launch.
Closing a Long-Standing Gap
For years, airport Wi-Fi has been among the most consistently cited shortcomings of the Nigerian airport passenger experience. Travellers making connections through Lagos or Abuja, or waiting out delays at either airport, have frequently noted the absence of reliable public internet access as a material inconvenience — particularly business travellers, who represent a significant segment of the traffic at both airports.
The launch follows a broader series of digital and passenger experience upgrades at FAAN airports under Mrs Kuku's tenure, which has also seen the rollout of the authority's cashless payment policy from 1 March 2026, the introduction of the FAAN Airport Car Hire Rank Management System — a digital platform for managing ground transportation at airport terminals — and the ongoing deployment of electronic boarding gates and biometric processing systems as part of the MMIA Terminal 1 rehabilitation project.
MTN's Airport Infrastructure Push
For MTN Nigeria, the partnership extends the telecommunications company's footprint into a high-visibility, high-traffic public infrastructure environment. Nigeria's international airports collectively process tens of millions of passengers annually, with MMIA alone handling over eight million passengers per year before the Terminal 1 shutdown. Providing free connectivity to that audience represents both a public service contribution and a commercial positioning play, as users of the free service will be exposed to MTN's wider enterprise and consumer products in the airport environment.
FAAN said the partnership is consistent with its broader strategy of leveraging private sector expertise and investment to accelerate the improvement of airport services, particularly in areas where the authority's own capital programme is focused primarily on physical infrastructure. Further details of the funding model and long-term maintenance structure governing the arrangement were not released at the launch.
