How Mobile Data Drove Massive Revenue Growth for Nigerian Telcos

Nigeria’s telecom giants are experiencing significant revenue surges from mobile internet services, as data consumption continues to skyrocket, especially among the country’s youthful, tech-savvy population.

Recent earnings reports from MTN Nigeria and Airtel Nigeria reveal remarkable growth in data revenue during the second quarter of 2025.

MTN posted an 85.6% jump in data earnings, from N377 billion in Q2 2024 to N701 billion in Q2 2025.

Airtel Nigeria also saw a 60.3% rise in data revenue, climbing to N260 billion ($168 million) from N185.4 billion ($117 million) in the same period last year.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) confirmed the upward trend, attributing it to increasing mobile internet usage despite a recent 50% hike in data tariffs.

In May 2025 alone, national data usage hit a record 1.04 million terabytes, the highest monthly volume since the NCC began reporting in January 2023.

Telcos also reported rising data traffic due to higher smartphone penetration. MTN disclosed that average monthly data consumption per subscriber rose by 26.3% year-on-year to 13.2GB.

“Data usage per customer increased by 27.3% to 9.3 GB per month (from 7.3 GB in the prior period), with smartphone penetration increasing 4.8% to reach 51.4%,” Airtel reported in its latest results.

“Smartphone data usage per customer reached 11.8 GB per month compared to 9.9 GB per month in the prior period,” the company added.

To cope with soaring data traffic, telecom operators have ramped up investment in infrastructure.

MTN Nigeria disclosed it spent N565.7 billion in the first half of 2025—an increase of 288.4% from the same period in 2024—to enhance its network.

“The accelerated capex in H1 was deployed to support growth in data traffic as well as enhance service quality and user experience,” the telco stated.

The capital injection funded 240 new 4G base stations, the expansion of MTN’s fibre-to-home broadband network, and the development of a new data centre.

Airtel Nigeria’s parent company, Airtel Africa, also increased its capital outlay in Nigeria by 1.7%, from $38 million in Q2 2024 to $39 million in Q2 2025.

“In Nigeria, capital expenditure for the quarter ended 30 June 2025 was $39m, compared to $38m in the same period last year,” the company reported.

In May, Airtel announced an ambitious plan to double its capital investment, focusing on 5G rollout, rural network expansion, customer experience upgrades, and digital infrastructure improvements.

The company is also enhancing its data centres to integrate with the 2Africa submarine cable landing stations, which will boost its international bandwidth and improve connectivity across the country.