The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has disclosed that the telecommunications sector is witnessing a decline in the number of Internet services consumed. This follows the regulatory approval and subsequent implementation of 50 per cent tariff hikes on voice, data, and SMS services by Mobile Network Operators (MNOS) in January 2025.
The NCC revealed this development in the updated industry statistics published on its corporate website recently.
The commission report indicated the West African country’s telecoms industry lost approximately a million Internet users in February this year, as the user base declined from 142.16 million to 141.25 million.
This is consistent with Section 89 Subsection 3(d) of the Nigerian Communications Act 2003 (NCA 2003), which mandates the Commission “to monitor and report on the state of the country’s telecommunications industry, provide statistical analyses and identify industry trends about services, tariffs, operators, technology, subscribers, issues of competition”, among others towards identifying areas where regulatory intervention would be needed.
The Commission noted that although the sector recorded a slight recovery in March with the figure rising to 142.05 million, the development was yet significantly impacted the sector’s data consumption patterns during the period.
The report further showed a 12 per cent decline in monthly data consumption in February, declining to 893.06 petabytes from January’s record high of one exabyte.
The NCC report, however, noted that a marginal rebound was recorded in March 2025, with data usage increasing by 11.5 per cent to 995.88 petabytes.
Despite this modest recovery, the report said consumption levels remained slightly below the January peak, suggesting that subscribers continued to exhibit caution in their usage habits due to the increased tariffs.
Other developments in the telecoms sector report
The telecoms industry report further demonstrated resilience in other areas, with network operators adding 3.39 million new telephone users between January and March this year.
This growth trajectory propelled the total active lines from 169.32 million to 172.71 million, subsequently boosting Nigeria’s Teledensity from 78.10 per cent to 79.67 per cent during the same period, according to the Commission.
As regards market dynamics, the Mobile Network Operators also maintained their dominance in the Internet market.
The report indicated that MTN Nigeria Communications Plc led with 75.62 million users, followed by Airtel Nigeria with 48.8 million, Globacom with 15.37 million, and 9mobile with 1.75 million respectively.
It also noted that MTN retained its market lead in active telephone lines with 90.5 million subscribers, representing a 52.48 per cent market share, while Airtel followed with 58.3 million users (33.78 per cent), Globacom with 20.7 million (12 per cent), and 9mobile with 2.9 million (1.72 per cent).
The latest industry figures underscore the complexities facing Nigeria’s telecoms sector of the economy, as operators navigate economic pressures and evolving consumer behaviour in the ecosystem.
In respect of porting activities, the NCC report showed 9mobile has continued to experience a decline in its subscriber base, with a total of 5,809 customers porting out of its network between February and March.
The report showed that other network operators, however, recorded insignificant outgoing porting numbers compared to 9mobile.
The Commission noted that MTN lost 647 customers, Airtel recorded 695 outgoing portings, Globacom recorded 771, whereas 9mobile lost 5,808 in both February and March 2025.
In connection with incoming porting, MTN again gained the most subscribers from other operators, with 4,855 subscribers joining its network in February and March, according to the report.
It stated that Airtel recorded 2,084 incoming portings, while Globacom gained 1,007 customers in both months.
The industry report added that, meanwhile, 9mobile recorded only three incoming port-ins for both months under consideration.
The NCC, in the report on incoming and outgoing porting activities of mobile network operators, added that a total of 7,922 subscribers moved from one network to another between February and March this year.