Two main telecommunications operators in Nigeria, MTN and Airtel, revamped N3.6 trillion from information alone as Nigerians’ urge for food for web utilization continues to develop.
Whereas information has overtaken voice as the primary income for the cell community operators a couple of years in the past, the speed of knowledge income development has dwarfed that of voice, in response to the newest {financial} experiences of the 2 corporations.
Though the 50% tariff improve carried out by the operators final yr contributed to the income surge, business information launched by the Nigerian Communications Fee (NCC) reveals a gentle rise in information consumption by Nigerians all year long.
Particularly, MTN Nigeria generated N2.8 trillion from information for the yr ended December 31, 2025, representing a 74.5% development over the N1.6 trillion recorded in 2024.
MTN additional disclosed that its information site visitors elevated by 34.0% and common utilization per subscriber rose by 20% to 13.1GB for the yr.
Equally, Airtel Nigeria in its newest {financial} outcomes protecting the 9-month ended December 31, 2025, reported a 67.4% development in information income because it raked in N838.6 billion ($560 million) in contrast with the N500.8 billion (344 million) it posted in the identical interval of 2024.
The corporate added that smartphone information utilization per buyer reached 13.4 GB monthly in comparison with 11.2 GB monthly within the prior interval.
Regardless of the 50% improve in tariffs carried out by the telecom operators in February final yr, NCC’s information reveals that Nigerians proceed to eat extra information.
In Might, as an example, Nigerians consumed 1.04 million terabytes of information and it got here as the best month-to-month report since January 2023, when the telecom regulator began publishing the information.
From then on, the consumption continued to go greater every month. For December 2025, information consumption in Nigeria hit one other new excessive of 1.38 million terabytes.
The fast development of digital financial system in Nigeria has been attributed to the rising information consumption within the nation.
Based on Lagos primarily based digital advertising and marketing specialist, Mr. Idowu Ayodele, many Nigerians are searching for alternatives to earn revenue on-line, both as a foremost supply or a aspect hustle.
Based on a telecom skilled, Mr. Adewale Adeoye, the explosion of short-form video platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels has significantly pushed information utilization amongst youthful Nigerians.
For the telecom operators, extra information consumption and extra income imply they will even should proceed to speculate closely in increasing their capability, or else the expertise could deteriorate as extra customers be part of the networks.
For 2025, MTN stated it invested N1 trillion in community capability, greater than doubling its prior yr capital expenditure, and the corporate plans to speculate extra this yr to fulfill the rising demand for information.
Additionally talking throughout a media roundtable final month, Airtel Nigeria Chief Government Officer, Dinesh Balsingh, stated the corporate is at present implementing intensive rollout of fibre infrastructure throughout cities and states, with additional extensions deliberate each inside main city centres and between states.
He added that community upgrades will speed up in 2026 as Nigeria’s information consumption continues to rise, noting that future business management will depend upon long-term planning.
On January 20, 2025, the NCC accepted a long-awaited 50 % improve in the price of calls, information, and SMS.
This marked the primary main adjustment in telecom pricing in over a decade, as operators had lengthy argued that rising inflation, foreign exchange shortages, and vitality prices have been eroding their margins.
