Nigerians Consume Record 1.5m Terabytes in May
Telecom subscribers in Nigeria consumed 1.5 million terabytes of data in May 2026, the highest monthly usage ever recorded, according to figures released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
The surge reflects the growing adoption of faster networks. “The percentage of Nigerian internet users on 4G increased to 54.30% as of May, while 5G is also steadily coming up at 4.49%,” NCC data revealed. Meanwhile, 3G usage continues to decline, accounting for just 5.10% of connections.
Internet subscriptions also rose across the country’s four mobile networks. Active mobile subscriptions jumped from 154.3 million in April to 157 million in May. MTN led with 83.5 million subscriptions, followed by Airtel with 55.8 million, Globacom with 16.8 million, and T2 with 802,534.
The NCC’s Executive Vice Chairman, Dr. Aminu Maida, had earlier noted that Nigerians were consuming about 45,800 terabytes of data daily. “Going by May data, the average daily usage has gone up to 48,518 terabytes,” he said, pointing to the rapid expansion of Nigeria’s digital economy.
Industry analysts attribute the surge to the rise of digital content creation. “Almost every Nigerian is now a content creator,” said Adewale Adeoye, a Lagos-based telecom consultant. “As they keep uploading and people keep watching, the amount of data used will continue to increase.”
The NCC highlighted that telecom operators invested more than N2.5 trillion in network infrastructure in 2025 to meet rising demand. Operators have also committed to upgrading 12,000 sites this year to improve service quality.
Data has now become the main source of revenue for telecom providers, but the rapid growth is also straining infrastructure. The regulator emphasized that continued investment will be critical to sustaining service quality as Nigeria’s digital economy expands.