This was revealed at a media roundtable held on Wednesday, February 5, 2026, days after Airtel Nigeria executives visited the Nxtra data centre site at Eko Atlantic. 

The facility, which Airtel says will have a capacity of 38 megawatts, is expected to be one of the largest in Nigeria when completed.

Speaking at the session, Airtel Nigeria’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Dinesh Balsingh, said the company had increased the number of its network sites by close to 15% between December 2023 and now, with most of that growth happening in the last six months.

“We were a 15,000 site network. Now we’re about 17,000 sites,” Balsingh said. “And more investment on site building is going to come.”

He said the expansion has focused on rural communities, smaller towns and the outskirts of major cities, alongside capacity upgrades in urban areas where data use continues to increase.

According to Airtel, about 25% of its existing sites have already been upgraded with additional radio equipment to carry more data. The company said similar upgrades would continue over the next two years as demand grows.

Balsingh said Airtel had also added 10 megahertz of spectrum to its 4G network, increasing capacity by about 20%. He noted that most mobile data traffic in Nigeria still runs on 4G, even as the company accelerates its 5G rollout.

“In the last three months, we more than doubled our 5G sites,” he said, adding that Airtel plans to extend 5G coverage across about 25% of its network in the country’s top cities.

On rural connectivity, Airtel Nigeria said it is increasingly using satellite technology where fibre or microwave links are difficult to deploy. Harmanpreet Dhillon, chief technology officer of Airtel Nigeria, noted a recent deployment in Taraba State.

“It’s a remote town in Taraba, where we have connected the site,” Dhillon said. “Otherwise, laying a terrestrial network there, reaching there through fibre, was practically impossible.”

The telecom giant is already using Starlink satellite links to serve remote bank branches, oil facilities and security patrol locations, and has announced a direct-to-cell partnership that would allow satellite connectivity on mobile phones, subject to regulatory approval.

Ogo Ofomata, Airtel Business director said the company is focused on bringing connectivity to businesses in challenging locations, using every technology available. 

Stressing how Airtel Nigeria has solved challenges through fixed wireless access, she said, “Nobody needs to visit the site anymore, and the service runs 99.9% of the time,” she said. 

Satellite services, including Starlink, are helping to connect remote branches and support security patrols in the Niger Delta. According to Ofomata, these solutions are already impacting how businesses operate and improving lives in underserved areas.

On transmission infrastructure, the company revealed it is expanding its fibre footprint by about 25% and has completed nearly half of that work. 

Airtel Nigeria also announced a new internet traffic breakout point in the south of the country, using the 2Africa submarine cable landing in Akwa Ibom State.

“Traffic today that comes from the south and the north travels all the way to Lagos and breaks out,” Balsingh said. “So now you have that traffic go to the south and then break out.”

The additional breakout would improve resilience and reduce pressure on existing routes into Lagos.

Meanwhile, on the data and computing side, Airtel Nigeria operates a large private, fully virtualised data environment ahead of the Eko Atlantic data centre facility going live. 

Kemi Ariyo, director of IT at Airtel Nigeria, said the company currently runs significant computing and storage capacity in-house.

“We’ve got over 20,000 gigahertz of compute power,” Ariyo said. “We’ve got dedicated AI clusters and over 20 petabytes of data.”

She stressed that the infrastructure supports network automation, fraud detection and customer protection systems, including tools to block spam and malicious links.

Another highlight was the scale of Airtel Nigeria’s retail and distribution network. The company said its services are available through about 200,000 outlets nationwide, alongside roughly 4,000 exclusive stores and 250 flagship outlets.

“We want to ensure that every 100 metres that you go, you will see an Airtel outlet,” said Ismail Adeshina, director of Marketing at Airtel Nigeria.

On investment figures, Airtel plans to double its investments in Nigeria, both in the new data centre and beyond. Balsingh acknowledged ongoing challenges, including fibre cuts and power limitations, but said Airtel was working with regulators and government agencies to manage the risks.

“2026 will be another massive year of investments,” Balsingh said. “We are building scale, building resilience, building high capacity, and building the future.”

The company said it plans to hold further briefings later in the year to update the media on progress.

But then, here we are. The sector’s contribution to the economy is so massive that ignoring it would be like pretending petrol isn’t essential to your car just because the tank is full.

It grew at a real rate of 5.78% in Q3 2025 and accounted for roughly 9.1% of GDP, proving that even in a country notorious for regulatory tangles and infrastructural challenges, telecoms are the backbone of modern Nigeria.

But don’t be deceived by these figures, there’s still a world of congestion, fibre cuts, high expenses, and millions of frustrated subscribers tapping the screen for just one uninterrupted call.

Subscriber Growth and Broadband Penetration: Two Extremes

Active mobile subscriptions hit ~169.3 million in January, growing steadily to 175 million by December, nudging teledensity past 80%, the highest since early 2024. 

We could call this progress since Nigerians are connecting, surfing, streaming, and transacting digitally more than ever. Broadband adoption, too, edged towards 50%, with nearly 49.9% penetration by December 2025, inching closer to the National Broadband Plan’s 70% target.

However, numbers can be deceiving. While urban dwellers bask in fibre-optic speeds and 4G coverage, rural users are fighting with patchy signals and pricey data, nudging us that half the population is still a click away from the digital economy.

Investment, Tariffs, and Infrastructure

Telecom operators collectively poured ~₦824.7 billion into network expansion in H1 2025 alone. Add $1 billion in projected infrastructure investment and the government’s approval of 7,000 new towers, and it looks like Nigeria’s networks are finally meeting up with demand.

Tariff reforms, including a 50 % headroom on pricing, spurred roughly $2 billion in equipment imports, showing serious investor assurance. 

Still, operators battled record operational costs of ~₦5.85 trillion, thanks to energy expenses, multiple taxes, and the notorious Right of Way fees. Growth may be visible on the surface, but the price of keeping the lights, and signals, on is still a big issue.

Technology Deployment: 4G Dominates, 5G Stutters

4G remained king, covering more ground and enabling surges in data consumption. 5G, on the other hand, limped along at ~3.4 % market share, limited by device affordability and limited rollout. 

It’s a classic story where infrastructure exists, purpose exists, but the average Nigerian smartphone wallet does not.

The pledge of next-gen connectivity is there, but the reality is uneven adoption. Even as data usage peaked at 1.15 million terabytes in August, a noteworthy portion of the population is left waiting for the high-speed revolution.

Operator Performance: Leaders, Survivors, and Stragglers

MTN Nigeria retained its crown with ~90.33 million subscribers (~52 % market share). Data revenue surged 69.2 %, while voice grew 40.3 %, enabling MTN to swing from an operating loss in 2024 to a profit in H1 2025. 

The operator also struck a national roaming and spectrum sharing agreement with 9mobile to ease coverage gaps.

Airtel Nigeria was the second-largest operator, hovering around ~58.47 million subscribers (~34 % market share). Its mobile money platform boosted digital revenue, while strategic tariff adjustments helped maintain steady growth.

Globacom recovered modestly to ~21.39 million subscribers (~12 %), but growth lags behind MTN and Airtel, reflecting lingering regulatory and competitive challenges.

9mobile, the smallest operator in terms of numbers, barely moved the needle at ~3.11 million subscribers (~1.8 %). Its mid-year infrastructure-sharing deal with MTN produced minimal subscriber growth, stressing the uphill battle against market authority and service quality issues.

The Dark Side of 2025: Costs, Complaints, and Inequalities

Despite subscriber growth, users complain of slow internet, frequent signal drops, and service congestion. 

Inflation and naira depreciation pushed tariffs higher, leaving low-income households increasingly excluded. Even with near-50% broadband penetration, rural areas lag badly, sustaining a stubborn digital divide.

Infrastructure vandalism and fibre cuts added to the challenge, while regulatory stress and multiple levies, up to 18-20 taxes per service, kept operators constantly on edge. 

Add delayed privatisation of NATCOM and stalled 5G expansion, and it’s apparent that 2025 was a high-wire balancing act, with massive growth shadowed by operational and structural challenges.

Data Usage and Digital Consumption

Data consumption drove Nigeria’s telecom sector growth in 2025. GSM internet subscribers reached 140.36 million, and monthly traffic peaked at 1.15 million terabytes. 

These trends show a high dependency of Nigeria’s population on mobile internet for work, entertainment, education, and finance. It’s a digital sector expanding speedily, even if unevenly.

Policy and Regulatory Space

The government removed a 5% telecom tax mid-year, though analysts warned it wouldn’t automatically lower prices for consumers. 

NCC’s robust monitoring and reporting framework ensured operators stayed accountable, but the environment remained heavy with compliance requirements. 

Regulatory complexity continues to shape strategic decisions, especially for operators outside the top two.

2025 in Summary: Progress with Strings Attached

• The Good: Subscriber numbers hit record highs, broadband approached 50%, GDP contribution remained strong, and 4G/5G coverage expanded steadily.
• The Bad: High operational expenses, affordability limitations, service quality issues, uneven rural coverage, and slow 5G adoption.
• Operator Reality: MTN tops, Airtel holds steady, Globacom recovers slowly, 9mobile struggles.

Nigeria’s telecom sector in 2025 is a study in contrasts, incredible growth and investment, paired with structural and operational challenges. 

If the past year teaches us anything, it’s that subscriber numbers and GDP contribution are not the entire measure of success. Can expansion be turned into reliable, affordable, and inclusive service? So that the mobile revolution benefits not just the urban elite, but the entire nation.

The National Bureau of Statistics revealed that the sector grew by 21.49% in the third quarter of 2025, a break from the long period of slow growth the industry faced in previous years.

The economy also strengthened as real GDP rose by 3.98% year-on-year, slightly above the 3.86% recorded in Q3 2024. Reports link the improvement to the ongoing GDP rebasing exercise and the policy changes introduced since last year, including the fuel subsidy removal and the liberalised exchange rate.

Services were the country’s main economic engine. The sector accounted for 53.02% of economic output, an increase from 52.93% a year earlier. Telecoms sit within this category and contributed ₦7.47 trillion, showing a rebound as demand for data surged and tariff adjustments took effect.

Driving the growth, operators expanded their customer base, with Nigeria’s mobile subscriptions climbing past 220 million in 2025. MTN led the market with 87.5 million users, representing 51.7% share, while Airtel followed with 57.6 million subscribers and 34.1% share.

Investment has also picked up. Operators have been pushing more fibre into cities and preparing for wider 5G rollout. From what I’ve seen, this has helped steady the industry at a time when many sectors are struggling with rising costs and tight consumer spending.

The growth fed directly into company earnings. MTN and Airtel jointly reported ₦5.16 trillion in revenue over the first nine months of the year. MTN moved from a ₦514.9 billion loss to a ₦750.2 billion profit, while Airtel posted $376 million in profit after recording foreign-exchange gains.

Stronger profits mean higher tax obligations, which could provide a timely increase to federal revenue in 2025. This aligns with the outlook shared earlier by the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, who said the digital economy could generate $18.3 billion by 2026. “The digital economy could generate up to $18.3 billion by 2026,” he said.

Beyond Nigeria’s telecom sector itself, the new data point to a structural change in the economy. The non-oil sector now accounts for more than 96% of national output, underlining Nigeria’s gradual move away from crude oil dependence. 

Telecoms, with their expanding subscriber base and more investment, are becoming one of the pillars of this transition.

Telecoms are no longer just a supporting segment. They are helping build the country’s economic direction, driving growth, improving tax revenue prospects, and building the backbone for the digital economy Nigeria wants to scale by 2030.