Nigerians will spend ₦20.87 billion per day on data in 2025

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Nothing illustrates Nigeria’s growing dependence on the internet more than the amount of money people currently spend on data. National data spending increased by 171.41% to N7.62 trillion ($5.58 billion) from 2024 to 2025, according to TechCabal analysis of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) consumption data and average data prices.

Every time a Nigerian streams a soccer match, attends an online prayer meeting, scrolls through Instagram or binge-watches Nollywood on YouTube, money moves from their wallets to their telecom balance sheets. While this behavioral shift has become a core revenue stream for carriers, it has also exacerbated consumer dissatisfaction with rising costs and unreliable service.

With video streaming alone consuming up to 1 GB per hour in HD, growing digital habits combined with higher prices led to Nigeria’s annual data consumption increasing by 35.70% to 13.25 million terabytes (13.25 billion GB) in 2025. This increased average usage per user to 89.42 GB, up from 70.09 GB a year ago.

mathematics

Based on average data prices of ₦575 ($0.42) per GB, Nigeria’s annual internet spending will reach ₦7.62 trillion ($5.58 billion) in 2025, according to TechCabal calculations. In 2024, this figure was £2.81 trillion ($2.06 billion), with the average price of 1GB being £287.5 ($0.21).

This calculation uses prices from carrier websites to assess the average cost of 1 GB nationwide.

winner

Telecommunications operators are the biggest economic winners, with data revenue making the biggest contribution to overall revenue.

Streaming platforms like YouTube are the second biggest beneficiary.

YouTube is not only the default streaming platform of choice for religious leaders and a content monetization engine for content creators, but is also rapidly becoming the home of Nollywood movies as the film economy develops.

As subscribers increase their spending on data, platforms are monetizing by relying on increased engagement time to display ads to users.

This growth has resulted in internet usage in Nigeria exceeding the regional average, with approximately 29% of the population using the internet. According to the GSMA, 85% of Nigerians with mobile internet use it to make and receive video calls, 75% use it to watch online videos that are free to access, and 54% use it to stream free music.

Hidden costs for subscribers

For users, increased data spending has not translated into reliability.

Internet downtime has become commonplace and can often mean the difference between productive and wasted workdays.

“Last December, the network condition became so bad that I was unable to attend most meetings,” said Precious Sebiomo, a Lagos-based lawyer. “I lost a working day due to a network failure.”

When the internet goes down, your life is affected.

In 2024, MTN Nigeria experienced a major outage, leaving customers unable to make phone calls or connect to the internet. This failure lasted 4 hours and was caused by multiple fiber cuts.

From January to August 2025, carriers recorded more than 19,000 fiber optic cuts, causing prolonged outages and service interruptions.

In 2025, MTN experienced 1,002 major outages. T2 Mobile (formerly 9mobile) had 632, Airtel 248 and Glo 124.

These large-scale outages often completely disrupt critical services such as SMS, voice calls, mobile data, and USSD, sometimes for hours, leaving millions of people stranded with digital access.

Beyond power outages, Nigerians also face slow speeds. The country ranks 85th in the world for mobile speeds and 129th for fixed broadband speeds as of December 2025, according to Speedtest Intelligence from Ookla Research, a global data insights company.

The average mobile speed was 44.14 Mbps and the average fixed broadband speed was 33.32 Mbps. In the global digital economy, Nigerians are at a structural disadvantage, competing internationally with slower and less reliable infrastructure.

Adeolu Ogunbanjo, president of the National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers (NATCOMS), a consumer-focused trade group, says only improved quality of service can justify the 2025 price increase.

“Nigerians are dissatisfied because they continue to receive poor services,” he said.

However, operators argue that the sector has been hampered by years of underinvestment, mainly because they could not afford to invest.

“The much-needed price increase for the survival and continued growth of our industry will enable us to continue to invest in our network infrastructure, expand our service coverage and offer improved products and services to meet the evolving needs of our customers,” Dinesh Balsin, CEO of Airtel Nigeria, said in a January 2025 statement.

With pricing reviews already in place, carriers are increasing spending on network infrastructure. MTN Nigeria has more than tripled its capital investment to £757.4 billion ($554.38 million) as of October 2025.

Telcos note that while results will take time, the patience of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is starting to wear thin.

In January 2026, Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, directed regulators to automatically impose penalties on carriers within 90 days for network failures.

The regulator also plans to impose fines of at least ₦12.4 billion ($9.08 million) on carriers for service violations in 2026, prioritizing the provision of quality services this year.

According to TechCabal’s NCC consumption data and average data price analysis, Nigeria’s data economy is currently worth at least $7.62 trillion ₦580 million. For telecom companies, this is a surefire growth engine. For platforms and content creators, this is a treasure trove of subscribers.

For Nigerians, this is a structural dependency, increasing costs but not increasing reliability. If network quality does not improve, subscribers may eventually start looking to satellite connections as well as terrestrial networks for stability in an increasingly data-intensive country.