Telecom operators in Nigeria, comprising MTN, Airtel, Globacom, and other Internet Service Providers (ISPs), are seeing unprecedented growth in data consumption on their networks, a development that is putting more pressure on them to invest more in capacity.
According to the latest industry data released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Nigerians consumed 1.15 million terabytes of data in August, higher than 1.13 million terabytes recorded in July.
This came as the highest monthly consumption so far and continued the data usage growth trajectory that started in January 2025.
However, the heavy usage, mostly concentrated in the urban areas like Lagos and Abuja, is putting pressure on the existing infrastructure of the telcos, leading to intermittent poor quality of experience for internet users.
The NCC confirmed this in its latest report on network capacity, where it admitted that the telcos’ current capacity is inadequate to support the growing appetite of Nigerians for data.
Capacity hampers the quality of service
The report of investigations on the network by the NCC revealed that current issues, such as dropped video calls, buffering on streams, failed mobile payments, and slow downloads, are the result of inadequate capacity across the networks.
But the Commission pointed out that the capacity constraint is experienced only in cities where there are heavy data users.
“Capacity restrictions are concentrated in urban zones; the impact on rural service is extremely low, reinforcing that this constraint is a localized issue tied to high-density areas,” the Commission added.
- Previous data by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) established that Lagos State has the highest number of internet users in Nigeria, a factor contributing to the poor quality of experience internet subscribers have been complaining about in recent times in the state.
- Users in Ogun, Kano, Kano Kaduna and the FCT are also not left of the capacity constraint as they also house a large number of internet users.
According to the NCC, the telcos will have to increase their investments to bridge this capacity gap, especially in densely populated areas.
The Commission also wants the operators to adopt a multi-faceted approach focusing on two goals, which include “aggressively deploying 5G technology and optimizing the capacity of the existing 4G (LTE) network to improve performance for all users.”
Telcos’ revenue and investments
While the growing demand is putting pressure on the existing infrastructure of the telecom operators, the service providers are also seeing an increase in revenue from data.
Going by the latest financial results of MTN Nigeria and Airtel Nigeria, data is now the revenue driver for telecom operators in Nigeria.
- In Q2 2025, MTN Nigeria’s data revenue jumped by 85.6% to N701 billion from N377 billion recorded in the same period last year.
- For Airtel Nigeria, data revenue within the same period rose by 60.3% to N260 billion ($168 million) compared with N185.4 billion ($117 million) recorded in the same period of 2024.
The CEO of Airtel Nigeria, Dinesh Balsingh, admitted that the growing demand for data calls for more investment and the company is doing just that.
“Cities like Lagos are growing at lightning speed, more people, more businesses, more devices. We recognise that data is the new oxygen. That’s why we’re investing heavily in 5G and fibre to build a smart, scalable network that can carry the weight of Nigeria’s digital future,” he said.
MTN Nigeria said it is also ramping up investments to expand its capacity for the growing demand for data in the country.
In the first half of 2025, MTN reported that it invested N565.7 billion to accelerate the expansion of its network infrastructure, marking a 288.4% increase in capital expenditure compared to the same period last year.
MTN said the surge in capex, excluding lease payments, was necessary to meet growing data traffic and improve service quality for its over 84 million subscribers.
“The accelerated capex in H1 was deployed to support growth in data traffic as well as enhance service quality and user experience,” the company stated.
Airtel Africa, the parent company of Airtel Nigeria, said it also increased capital expenditure in Nigeria to $39 million in the second quarter of 2025, up 1.7 million from $38 million in the same period last year.
“In Nigeria, capital expenditure for the quarter ended 30 June 2025 was $39m, compared to $38m in the same period last year,” the company reported.
Internet subscriptions fall
Despite the surge in data usage across the networks, the number of devices actively connected to the internet has not been growing, reflecting that more Nigerians are not being connected, but existing users are consuming more data.
- According to NCC’s data, active internet subscriptions in the country are declining. As of August, total internet subscriptions across mobile, fixed, and ISP networks stood at 140.3 million.
- While this shows growth when compared with the 138 million recorded in July, it is a decline when compared with the 142.2 million active subscriptions recorded at the beginning of the year.
- Industry analysts, however, attributed the decline to the 50% tariff implemented early this year. According to them, this forced many subscribers who subscribed on multiple devices when data was cheap to limit themselves to essential subscriptions.
What you should know
The telecom industry has become one of the strongest drivers of Nigeria’s economy, thanks to its consistent and expanding contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
In the second quarter of 2025, the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector, which is largely powered by telecommunications, accounted for 11.18% of Nigeria’s GDP.
The ICT sector includes Telecommunications and Information Services, Publishing, Motion Picture, Sound Recording and Music Production, and Broadcasting. It recorded a real growth rate of 6.61% year-on-year in Q2 2025.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) GDP Report, the sector’s performance showed notable improvement, rising by 2.23 percentage points from the 4.38% growth rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2024.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, ICT growth accelerated to 9.58%, underscoring its vital role in sustaining Nigeria’s economic expansion.
