Nigeria’s data traffic in 2025 soared by 35 per cent to a projected full-year total surpassing 13.2 million terabytes (TB), driven by surging internet usage across mobile and broadband networks, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
This momentum has been progressively increasing since the NCC started monitoring monthly usage in January 2023, according to data provided to LEADERSHIP.
From 7.27 million TB in 2023 to 9.76 million TB in 2024, national internet traffic from major providers including MTN Nigeria, Airtel Nigeria, Globacom, T2, and others increased by 34.3% year over year.
Consumption reached 11.86 million TB between January and November of 2025 alone, up 34.96 percent, or 3.07 million TB, from the previous year. This puts daily usage at over 41,000 TB and puts pressure on networks across the country.
According to data on NCCs website, since the it started monitoring monthly usage in January 2023, national internet traffic across MTN Nigeria, Airtel Nigeria, Globacom, T2, and other internet service providers has steadily increased.
“In 2023, Nigeria recorded 7.27 million TB in total data usage. This climbed to 9.76 million TB in 2024, representing a 34.3 per cent year-on-year growth.
The momentum has intensified in 2025, with full-year consumption now projected to exceed 13.2 million TB, implying growth of about 35 per cent over 2024.
At this rate, the nation’s mobile and internet networks are under constant strain as it consumes somewhat more than 41,000 TB of data every day.
There is also noticeable seasonality when traffic patterns are examined more closely. The month with the highest usage of data has always been December.
December traffic surpassed November by 94,502 TB in 2024, compared to 67,794 TB in 2023. In both years, the average month-over-month gain for December was between 10 and 11 percent, primarily due to social media activity, online shopping, video streaming, and holiday travel.
Industry participants claim that more affordable smartphones, increased mobile internet access, an increase in video content, growing cloud services, tools for remote work, and the gradual digitalisation of public services and enterprises are driving the expansion.
The National Broadband Plan (NBP), 2020–2025, established a target of 70% for broadband penetration, which was notably surpassed for the first time in November 2025.
Nigeria’s national data usage reached 11.86 million terabytes (TB) as of November 30, 2025, putting the nation firmly on track to surpass 13 million TB by year’s end, according to telecom expert Osita Odafi, who spoke about the findings.
According to Odafi, the increase shows how streaming services, cloud computing, fintech services, and the ubiquitous use of smartphones are drastically changing how Nigerians work and live.
Data consumption is increasingly seen by analysts as a mirror of wider economic activity, demonstrating how Nigerians interact, transact, learn, and amuse themselves.
Speaking as well, Dinesh Balsingh, the CEO of Airtel Nigeria, claimed that growing urbanisation was driving up demand for data.
“Cities like Lagos are growing at lightning speed with more people, more businesses, more devices.
“We recognise that data is the new oxygen. That is why we are investing heavily in 5G and fibre to build a smart, scalable network that can carry the weight of Nigeria’s digital future,” Balsingh said.
However, regulators have warned that infrastructure strain remains evident.
Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), Dr Aminu Maida, stated that the quality of service still requires improvement despite recent gains
“Quality of service today is not yet where we want it to be, but it is equally true that we are no longer where we used to be,” Maida said, adding that operators are being compelled to accelerate investment while improving customer experience.
The numbers indicate both potential and urgency for internet service providers and telecom carriers. It will take aggressive network capacity expansion, more resilience, and more intelligent infrastructure design to maintain the current growth trajectory.
From a policy perspective, analysts maintain that the 90,000-kilometer national fibre rollout under Project BRIDGE must be completed more quickly, right-of-way bottlenecks must be resolved, multiple taxes at the subnational level must be addressed, and security issues that raise operating costs and expose infrastructure to vandalism must be addressed.
If these constraints are removed, Odafi believes Nigeria’s current data boom may represent not a peak, but merely the opening phase of a much larger digital transformation.
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