Telecom providers added 15,420,144 million active users between April 2025 and May 2026, new data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has shown. History
The industry regulator said the subscription numbers acquired by Fixed Line Service, Internet Service Providers (Wired/Wireless) and Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP).
As of April 2025, the operators have 141,985,207 internet customers but the latest data given by NCC had 157,405,351 Internet subscribers. The operators lost 418,037 subscribers between April 2025 and May 2025.
Also, a decline of 395,491 subscribers was seen in June of the same year. In July, 2,422,314 internet users were disconnected from the networks.
According to the NCC data, the internet user base grew to 151,555,145 in January 2026 from 148,166,926 in December 2025, a growth of 3,388,219.
The NCC figure for February was an increase of 1,579,842, then a marginal increase of 685,569 in March to take the subscription number to 153,820,556. Time & Calendars
April’s number reported 154,724,088 subscriptions and a slight increase of 903,532 subscribers.
The NCC data reveals that operators in the country added 2,681,263 internet subscribers. Also, internet data usage in Nigeria increased significantly from April 2025 to May 2026, shattering historical records. The data traffic total in 2025 ended at about 13.25 million terabytes (TB). Usage hit a record 4.06 million TB consumed in just 90 days by Q1 2026, driven by high video streaming, social media and digital services.
According to NCC, monthly internet traffic was on a steep increase trajectory of consumed Terabytes with 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; Aug 2025: 1,152,347.24 TB; 1,147,133.24; September 2025 TB; October 2023: 1,235,459.47 TB. November 2025: 1,236,544.10 TB Dec 2025 1,386,238.23 TB Jan 2026 1,385,536.04 TB Feb 2026 1,260,000.00 TB Mar 2026 1,422,764.00 TB Apr 2026 1,410,000.00 TB May 2026 1,500,000.00 TB Time & Calendars
Sminu Maida, Executive Vice Chairman, NCC, said the rise in data usage is due to the increased use of digital payments, e-commerce platforms, online learning, entertainment streaming, remote employment, and other internet-enabled services.
He also said the surge was attributed to improved broadband penetration, which increased from 47.7 per cent in 2025 to 54.3 per cent in 2026.
Telecom providers, he said, invested more than $1 billion on network development in 2025, rolling out thousands of new telecom sites across the country to boost coverage and service quality.
The data, Maida said, pointed up the pivotal role of the telecommunications sector in spurring economic growth, innovation and social inclusion in Nigeria.
But he cautioned that the increased reliance on digital infrastructure also comes with growing concerns, including cybercrime, online fraud, infrastructure damage and risks to online safety.
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