The Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), based on the new industry statistics, revealed that Nigeria’s telephone coverage, also known as teledensity, increased to 80.97 per cent in October 2025, marking a strong recovery after past declines from the NIN-SIM linkage clampdown. NCC subscriber figures showed that the latest growth was due to active telephone subscriptions, which increased from 173.5 million to 175 million from over 300 million linked lines. This means that telecom carriers activated or reactivated around 1.54 million new Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) cards in October, resulting in expanded coverage across the country.
Further study of the data revealed that 4G technology remained the dominant network in Nigeria, accounting for 51.77 per cent of total usage. Followed by 2G at 38.4 percent, 3G, which is reaching its end in some parts of the world, has 6.34 percent penetration. 5G continues to struggle at 3.49 per cent.
More Nigerians remain connected to the Internet via narrowband, with subscriptions increasing from 140.9 million to 142.6 million between September and October. Broadband users increased to 108 million, with a penetration rate of 49.8%, which is 20.2% below the aim of 70% for 2025.
The 50% pricing spike implemented on January 20, 2025, by telecom carriers with the sanction of the Federal Government has not deterred Nigerians from using data. For example, between February and September, Nigerians spent over N2.5 trillion on data. This increased the terabytes consumed from 893,054.80 to 1,235,459.47.
The price of calls increased by 50 per cent to N9.6 per minute from N6.40, the ceiling (highest allowable) price to N75 from N50, the cost of SMS increased to N6 from N4, and the cost of 1GB of data to N431.25 from N287.5. Calls cost an average of N16.5 per minute, up from N11 previously.
According to reports, MTN Nigeria's data income increased by 85.6% to N701 billion in the second quarter of 2025, up from N377 billion in the same period last year. Airtel Nigeria's data income increased by 60.3 per cent to N260 billion ($168 million), compared to N185.4 billion ($117 million) in the same period in 2024.
Analysts say that the increase in data demand has been driven by major organisations and recent rivalry from telcos and surviving Internet Service Providers (ISPs), which have increased activity around Fibre-To-The-House/Home (FTTH), particularly in urban areas.
Further study of the new data revealed that MTN remained Nigeria's largest operator, with 91 million customers and 52% penetration. Airtel comes in a distant second with 59 million users and 33.7% penetration. Globacom ranks third, with 12.5% nationwide coverage and 21.8 million customers, while T2, formerly 9mobile as of October 2025, had 3.13 million members and 1.79 per cent coverage of the country.
In a related development, telephone services in rural areas may improve following the approval of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for the deployment of 4,000 telecommunications towers to underserved communities across Nigeria, which it claims will boost national security and close the urban-rural connectivity gap.
Mohammed Idris, Minister of Information and National Orientation, stated this in Abuja. Idris announced the decision, saying, "The FEC has decided that 4,000 of such towers will be created or erected in these severely underserved communities around the country.
