Nigeria’s broadband penetration grew by 16.4% in the past year

Nigeria’s broadband penetration story in 2025 is quite revolutionary; it’s a tale of a significant rebound from the circular trend witnessed in 2024.

They say that numbers don’t lie. Here is what they say:

In January 2024, Nigerians used 721,522 terabytes of data. A year later, the number surged by 38.6% to 1 million terabytes. The latest figure shows an upward trend; a 39% increase to 1.39 terabytes by January 2026. 

A pictorial representation of the internet data usage trend by Nigerians (from Jan’24 to ’26)

This increase is owing to increased download speed, improved visual quality, smartphone upgrades, online gaming, remote working and increased cloud storage.

Similarly and unsurprisingly, Nigeria’s broadband penetration, a measure of the number of internet subscribers who have access to high-speed internet (4G/5G/Fibre), increased.

Between January 2025 and 2026, broadband penetration increased from 45.61% in 2025 to 53.07% in 2026. This means that about 7–8 more people out of every 100 Nigerians now have broadband access compared to the previous year.

Alongside, broadband subscriptions increased by 16 million new connections in a year to reach 115 million from nearly 99 million in January 2025.

This implies that more citizens now access quality internet service. See growth graph below:

Also Read: 83.2% of Nigerian phone users are internet subscribers – NCC data.

What is driving the broadband penetration trend?

I had a conversation with Ginikachi Chinekezi, a backend fibre optic technician at LuliFibre, to explore the key factors driving broadband penetration’s growth. He highlighted the top three factors:

Firstly, there has been a “massive awareness push by internet service providers (ISPs).” He noted that industry players have invested in fixed wired products and fibre. 

Secondly, the government has created an enabling environment to attract more investment in the telecoms sector. These include licensing more operators, streamlining issues with right of way (ROW), which enables operators to lay fibre optic cables with fewer legal issues or land ownership claims in communities.

Thirdly, there is a growth in the digital economy, an increase in businesses that depend on the internet for day-to-day activities and the rise of remote work. 

“The steady rise of opportunities in the gig economy (remote work) sub-sector in the last one year is a factor to consider,” he said. 

Chinekezi’s submissions reveal how the philosophy and activities of the Nigerian economy have changed in one year. Compared to 2025, broadband penetration in 2024 was a circular story with little or no growth. The numbers ranged between 41% and 45% in 2024, with notable inconsistencies. Importantly, broadband subscriptions rose by 7.3% to 98.9 million, which is less than 2025’s growth.

While competition is intensifying among telcos, Chinekezi noted that investments in infrastructure are a major contributor to the growth: “In fact, most new fibre internet subscribers point to the presence of fibre network infrastructure in their neighbourhoods as the motivation for them to sign up”. 

His thoughts aligned with recent trends.

MTN Nigeria intensified its fibre broadband with FibreX, which saw a 658% surge in users. The industry spent $1 billion on new telecoms infrastructure in 2025 and also deployed 2,800 new upgraded towers during the year.

These ensured that 83 of every 100 phone users in Nigeria are internet users. 

Aside from operators, government intervention played a significant role. Chinekezi noted that “the government is beginning to be more intentional in deepening nationwide internet penetration.” 

One of these is Project Bridge. The government-led project aims to extend Nigeria's broadband by 90,000 km from 25,000km to 115,000 km. The initiative will provide universal, affordable broadband access to all 774 local government areas to accelerate the digital economy.

Also Read: Nigeria secures $100 million from European bank to wire 90,000km of fibre across the country.

Yet, data affordability is still an issue

While there’s a surge in Nigerians using and demanding high-speed data, it doesn’t mean data is now affordable. 

Recall that after the 50% telecoms traffic hike, operations increased voice and data prices. Voice calls increased from N6.40 to N9.60 per minute, SMS charges rose to N6 from N4, while data prices increased between 10% and 20%.

Chinekezi acknowledged that “data is still not ‘truly’ affordable in Nigeria as of today.” 

However, he noted that much of the growth in broadband penetration is “driven by network expansion, especially fibre infrastructure and a marginal growth in the number of remote workers who are able to pay for data subscription”.

With affordability still an issue, one might think this is a huge gap for the sustainability of broadband penetration.

But the expert believes the main driver of the growth is infrastructure and not the affordability of data. In fact, he projected more growth going forward and instilled a clause that inconsistent government policies and a drop in investment can stall the momentum.

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