However, despite this growth, the federal government has officially fallen short of the ambitious 70% broadband penetration target set in the National Broadband Plan (NBP 2020–2025), which expires this month.

According to the latest industry data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), total internet subscriptions in the country reached 144.7 million in November 2025, a steady climb from the 136 million recorded in the same period in 2024.

Technology Breakdown: The Shift in Connectivity

While Mobile (GSM) remains the undisputed king of Nigerian connectivity, 2025 saw a notable surge in “fixed-line” and ISP-led technologies as businesses and high-income households moved toward more stable fiber and satellite options.

Subscription Growth by Segment:

The Data Consumption Explosion

The most staggering statistic of 2025 is not the number of users, but how much data they are consuming. Nigerians consumed a record 1.24 million terabytes (TB) of data in November 2025 alone.

Total data consumption between January and November 2025 reached 11.86 million TB, representing a 34.96% increase compared to the 8.79 million TB consumed during the same period in 2024.

This surge is attributed to the rise of remote work, video streaming (TikTok, YouTube), and the transition of government services to digital platforms.

Market Share: The “Big Four” Leaderboard

MTN Nigeria continues to dominate the market, holding over half of the total internet subscriptions.

1. MTN: 78.8 Million
2. Airtel: 50.3 Million
3. Globacom: 14.2 Million
4. T2 (9mobile): 771,035

This represents an increase from 562,960.57 Terabytes used in March 2023.

Further analytical breakdown of the NCC report on data consumptions shows telecom subscribers used 721,522, and 698, 804.54 terabytes in January and February 2024, respectively.

The market share in the month of March 2024, among telecommunication companies shows that: MTN takes the biggest share leading by 81,799,666, a reflection of 37.35%, of the market, followed by Airtel 63,357, 061 representing 28.931%  of the share, while Globacom followed closely 62,191.448 capturing 28.40% ,  9moblie had 11,657, and 5.3%.

Internet Subscribers

For the month of March 2024 under review, the GSM subscribers increased to 163,895,185, Fixed wire had 21, 092, ISP (wired/wireless) 213, 876, VoIP, 238,139, totalling 164,368,292.  When juxtaposed with March 2023 record, mobile GSM is 156, 989,223, Fixed Wire, 16, 457, ISP (wired/Wireless) 204,810, while VoIP is 340,614.

Broadband penetration

Broadband penetration for March 2024 increased to 43.53% from the figure recorded in February 2024 and subscription is 94,364,751.

In comparative terms with the record of March 2023, the penetration was 48% and subscription was 92,033,267.

Thus the broadband penetration decreased on year-over-year bases.

Porting activities

For Porting activities (incoming), in the Month of March 2024, Airtel recorded 343, followed by 9mobile 62, Globalcom, 210, and MTN, 1,296, making the sum of 1,911.

Also in the March 2024 (outgoing), 2,253 porting activities took place. Airtel led with 351, 9moblie 94, Globalcom, 253, and MTN 1,555.

In Consistent with Section 89 Subsection 3(d) of the Nigerian Communications Act 2003 (NCA 2003), the Nigerian Communications Commission is mandated to monitor and report on the state of the Nigerian telecommunications industry, provide statistical analyses and identify industry trends with regard to services, tariffs, operators, technology, subscribers, issues of competition and dominance among others.

Further to this, the Commission regularly conducts studies and surveys and produces reports on the telecommunications industry, and telecommunications operators are obligated, under the terms of the licenses, to provide the NCC with such data on a regular basis for analytical review and publishing.