Nigerians set new data usage record, consume 1.5 million terabytes in May

Telecommunications subscribers in Nigeria used 1.5 million terabytes of data in May, the highest monthly consumption ever recorded.

This is according to the latest industry data released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

The increase in data usage comes as more Nigerians move to higher generation of networks, 4G and 5G, leading to higher speeds.

The surge in data consumption is also being fueled by the growing number of digital content creators in the country.

What the data is saying

NCC’s data shows that the percentage of Nigerian internet users on 4G increased to 54.30% as of May, while 5G is also steadily coming up at 4.49%.

• Conversely, 3G usage is declining in the country as only 5.10% of connections were on 3G as of May 2026.
• Meanwhile, internet subscriptions across the four mobile networks, MTN, Airtel, Globacom, and T2, also increased in May.
• According to NCC’s data, active mobile subscriptions in the country jumped from 154.3 million in April to 157 million in May.
• MTN continued to dominate the internet market, leading the pack with 83.5 million subscriptions.

Airtel Nigeria followed with 55.8 million internet connections, while Globacom and T2 serve 16.8 million and 802,534 subscriptions on their networks, respectively.

More insights

Earlier this year, the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Dr. Aminu Maida, said Nigerians have been consuming about 45,800 terabytes of data every day, reflecting the country’s rapidly growing dependence on internet services and digital platforms.

• According to him, the daily usage brought total consumed data in March 2026 to 1.42 million, compared with 995,000 terabytes recorded within the corresponding period of 2025.
• Going by May data, the average daily usage has gone up to 48,518 terabytes, indicating a continuous surge in data demand.

Maida had attributed the increasing data usage to the rapid expansion of Nigeria’s digital economy, driven by digital payments, e-commerce platforms, startups, digital literacy programmes, and emerging technologies.

Industry analysts noted that the growing interest in content creation, fueled by monetization programmes on platforms as Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, and X, has been a major contributor to the data surge.

• “Almost every Nigerian is now a content creator. Everybody wants to post a video of what is happening around them or what they saw elsewhere for engagement and as they keep uploading and people keep watching, watching, the amount of data used will continue to increase,” said Mr. Adewale Adeoye, a Lagos-based telecom consultant.

What you should know

With the growing data usage, telecom operators are also seeing rapid growth in their data revenue, a development that has pushed data to be the main source of income for the service providers.

This also comes with attendant pressure on their infrastructure as the rising demand strains existing capacity, forcing the telcos to invest more in infrastructure upgrades.

• Earlier this year, the NCC disclosed that telecommunications operators invested more than N2.5 trillion in network infrastructure in 2025 as the regulator moved to tackle worsening service quality complaints across the country.

The Commission said the operators have also committed to upgrade 12,000 sites this year to improve service quality across the country.