Nigeria’s telecommunications sector recorded explosive growth between January and July 2026, with operators activating over 12.8 million new SIM cards while subscribers consumed 10.2 million terabytes of data, according to the latest figures from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
The figures, released Thursday, point to a decisive shift from voice-based telephony to a data-driven digital economy across Africa’s largest economy. Average daily data consumption during the period stood at more than 48,000 terabytes.
MTN Nigeria and Airtel Nigeria, the country’s Tier-1 operators, are driving the expansion through aggressive network rollouts. MTN’s half-year financial report showed active data users climbing to 55.7 million, with average monthly usage per subscriber rising 15.1 per cent to 14.8 gigabytes. Data revenue for the period reached N1.70 trillion, accounting for more than 56 per cent of the company’s total service revenue.
Airtel Nigeria posted similar gains, recording a 30.8 per cent increase in average customer data usage to 11GB monthly per subscriber.Analysts attribute the surge to rising smartphone penetration — now at 66.4 per cent on MTN’s network — expanding 4G and 5G coverage, and growing demand for video streaming on platforms such as TikTok, YouTube and Netflix, alongside fintech, remote work and mobile commerce activity.
Nigeria consumed 13.2 million terabytes of data in all of 2025. With 10.2 million terabytes already recorded in the first seven months of 2026, industry projections suggest full-year consumption could reach between 18 million and 20 million terabytes.
However, the rapid growth has placed pressure on existing network infrastructure, with consumers increasingly reporting faster-than-expected data depletion and localised service disruptions.
