Nigeria’s internet consumption has reached a significant milestone, surpassing 1 million terabytes for the first time in January 2025. This achievement marks a major landmark since the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) began tracking data usage in January 2023. The growing reliance on digital connectivity and increasing demand for internet services have contributed to this milestone.
However, despite this achievement, Nigeria’s data consumption in January 2025 totaled 27,475 terabytes, a sharp decline from 94,502 terabytes recorded in December 2024. This dip in monthly data consumption may signal challenges for telecom operators, particularly after recent data tariff hikes.
MTN Nigeria and Airtel Nigeria, which increased data tariffs by 50%, may face revenue growth impacts as higher prices could discourage users from consuming as much data. Nevertheless, both operators recorded significant internet subscriber gains in January 2025.
MTN added 1.4 million new users, raising its total internet subscriber base to 73.7 million, while Airtel gained 1.08 million subscribers to reach 48.4 million.
In contrast, Globacom continued to struggle, adding only 313,939 users in January 2025, after a regulatory audit in April 2024 led to a significant reduction in its subscriber base. 9mobile failed to gain any new subscribers during the same period.
