Telcos shared N3.33tr data cash in three months
Nigeria’s mobile network operators (MNOs) have shared a total of N3.33 trillion data cash in the first three months of this year, according to industry data from the Nigeria Communications
Nigeria’s mobile network operators (MNOs) have shared a total of N3.33 trillion data cash in the first three months of this year, according to industry data from the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC).
According to the data, an average Nigerian internet subscriber used 28 gigabytes (GB) over the three months period, an equivalent to 14,000 high-quality songs streamed or 5,600 Zoom video calls. For lovers of movies, it translates to 56 hours of Netflix in standard high definition (HD) or 28,000 average web pages all within the same period under review.
This shows an ever increasing appetite for data usage among the Nigerians with a high percentage of youthful population; it also underscores the fact that data has become the new oil.
Nigerian internet users used 1.385 million terabytes of data in January 2026, a little short of the 1.386 million consumed in the same period the year before.
About N1.13 trillion (at 1GB = N800) was spent on data. On average, 9.6 GB of data, or N7,680 was spent by each of January’s 151.56 million internet subscribers.
Consumption however dipped in February. While internet users rose to 153.13 million in February, the same wasn’t the case with data usage, as 1.26 million terabytes were used. This translates to 8.6 GB (N6,880) of data used per head. For the entire month, N1.03 trillion was spent on data.
The story changed in March, surpassing all other months since the monthly data usage count by the NCC started.
According to a report, March saw 1.42 million terabytes of usage distributed among 153.82 million Nigerians on the internet. Individual count shows 9.7 GB (N7,760) of data usage or N1.14 trillion for all subscribers, a notable increase from the previous month.
Overall, the first three months saw an accumulation of 27.9 GB (N22,400) of data usage per head and 4.06 million terabytes (N3.33 trillion), according to Technext.
The average data usage show that despite the continuous drop in quality of service (QoS), and customer complaints over alleged data depletion.
Ostensibly inundated by complaints by subscribers, the NCC had ordered the MNOs to compensate their customers. The regulator, two weeks ago, whet the appetite of the subscribers by promising that the implementation of the directive would start.
