Nigeria’s internet usage grows 44% to 1.5m terabytes

Nigeria’s internet data consumption rose 44 per cent in the 12 months to May, reaching a record 1.5 million terabytes, as consumers and businesses increased their reliance on digital services and data-intensive applications.

Data from the Nigerian Communications Commission showed monthly data consumption rising from about 1.04 million terabytes in June 2025 to approximately 1.50 million terabytes in May 2026, adding roughly 460,000 terabytes to the volume of data carried across the country’s telecommunications networks.

The increase points to the accelerating demand for connectivity in one of Africa’s largest economies, where internet access has become increasingly important for financial services, commerce, entertainment, communications, education and other economic activities.

The rise in traffic is also placing greater demands on telecommunications infrastructure, requiring operators to expand network capacity and invest in fibre, spectrum, transmission infrastructure, base stations, data centres and other assets needed to support the growing volume of internet traffic.

Consumption did not rise consistently throughout the period, with monthly usage fluctuating before returning to a sustained upward trajectory towards the end of the 12 months.

According to the NCC data, consumption increased to about 1.13 million terabytes in July 2025 and 1.15 million terabytes in August, before remaining broadly unchanged in September, after which usage crossed 1.2 million terabytes in both October and November and climbed to approximately 1.39 million terabytes in December.

Consumption remained around that level in January 2026 before falling to about 1.26 million terabytes in February, after which it recovered to approximately 1.42 million terabytes in March and 1.41 million terabytes in April, before reaching the record 1.50 million terabytes in May.

The NCC figures cover more than Nigeria’s four major mobile operators, MTN, Airtel, Globacom and T2, extending to internet traffic associated with different licensed providers and technologies, including GSM, fixed wired connections, internet service providers and Voice over Internet Protocol services.

For telecommunications companies, rising data consumption presents an opportunity to increase the use of digital services while simultaneously increasing the investment required to maintain network quality and accommodate higher traffic volumes.

The industry has faced persistent consumer complaints about slow internet speeds, dropped calls, unstable data services and network disruptions, putting greater pressure on operators to improve network performance as demand continues to rise.

In May, the NCC said mobile network operators and tower companies invested about N2.5tn in network infrastructure and upgrades in 2025, supporting the addition and upgrade of more than 2,800 telecommunications sites nationwide.

The regulator also said operators had added and upgraded more than 12,000 telecommunications sites in 2026, with nearly 3,000 already completed, while more than 730 additional 5G sites had been deployed across 27 states during the year.

The infrastructure spending reflects the growing cost of supporting Nigeria’s expanding digital economy, as consumers increasingly use video streaming, social media, digital payments, cloud-based applications and other services that require greater network capacity.

MTN Nigeria, the country’s largest mobile operator, reported data revenue of N1.699tn in the first half of 2026, representing a 38.3 per cent increase from N1.229tn in the same period of 2025, highlighting the commercial importance of rising demand for mobile data.

The company’s performance, however, represents only part of the wider market captured by the NCC’s consumption data, which includes multiple providers, technologies and forms of internet connectivity.