Telecom operators gained 15,420,144 million active subscribers between April 2025 and May 2026, according to the latest data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
Figures from the industry regulator showed that Fixed Line Service, Internet Service Providers (Wired/Wireless) and Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) gained the subscription numbers.
In April 2025, the operators had 141,985,207 internet users while the latest figure released by NCC has 157,405,351 Internet subscribers. Between April 2025 and May 2025, the operators lost 418,037 subscribers.
Also, there was a decline of 395,491 subscribers in June of the same year. In July, 2,422,314 internet users dropped from the networks.
The NCC data showed the internet subscriber base of January 2026 to be 151,555,145 from 148,166,926 in December 2025, signifying an increase of 3,388,219.
In February, the NCC data showed an increase of 1,579,842 and another marginal increase of 685,569 in March, bringing the subscription number to 153,820,556.
The April figure recorded 154,724,088 subscribers and a marginal increase of 903,532 subscribers.
The NCC report shows that the operators in the country recorded a gain of 2,681,263 internet subscribers. In a related development, between April 2025 and May 2026, internet data consumption in Nigeria surged dramatically, crossing historical milestones. Total data traffic for 2025 closed at approximately 13.25 million terabytes (TB). By Q1 2026, usage shattered records with 4.06 million TB consumed in just 90 days, driven by heavy video streaming, social media, and digital services.
According to NCC, monthly internet traffic followed a steep upward trajectory of consumed Terabytes: April 2025: 983,283.43 TB; May 2025: 1,043,431.98 TB; June 2025: 1,044,073.08 TB; July 2025: 1,131,255.90 TB; August 2025: 1,152,347.24 TB; September 2025: 1,147,133.24 TB; October 2025: 1,235,459.47 TB; November 2025: 1,236,544.10 TB; December 2025: 1,386,238.23 TB; January 2026: 1,385,536.04 TB; February 2026: 1,260,000.00 TB; March 2026: 1,422,764.00 TB; April 2026: 1,410,000.00 TB, and May 2026: 1,500,000.00 TB.
The NCC Executive Vice Chairman, Sminu Maida, attributed the surge in data consumption to the increasing adoption of digital payments, e-commerce platforms, online learning, entertainment streaming, remote work and other internet- enabled services.
He also linked the growth to improvements in broadband penetration, which rose from 47.7 percent in 2025 to 54.3 percent in 2026.
According to him, telecommunications operators invested over $1 billion in network expansion in 2025, deploying thousands of additional telecom sites nationwide to improve coverage and service quality.
Maida said the figures underscored the critical role of the telecommunications sector in driving economic growth, innovation, and social inclusion in Nigeria.
He, however, warned that the increasing reliance on digital infrastructure also comes with growing challenges, including cybercrime, online fraud, infrastructure vandalism and threats to online safety.
