The Nigerian Communications Fee report has revealed that Web knowledge consumption in Nigeria declined by 17,647 terabytes between January and April 2025, following the implementation of a brand new tariff regime that noticed the price of telecommunications providers rise considerably.

NCC newest business statistics said that, whole web utilization dropped from 1,000,930.60 terabytes in January to 983,283.43 terabytes in April, representing a 1.76 per cent lower over the three-month interval.

The decline follows a 50 per cent tariff enhance accredited by the NCC in February, which pushed the typical price of 1GB of knowledge from N287.50 to N431.25 in response to rising inflation, international trade volatility, and surging power prices affecting telecom operators.

A month-on-month breakdown of the info reveals a pointy drop in utilization instantly after the tariff was launched. In February, web consumption fell to 893,054.80 terabytes, representing a ten.8 per cent decline from the January determine.

This was adopted by a rebound in March, when utilization rose to 995,876.10 terabytes, indicating that some shoppers could have quickly adjusted their spending or utilization habits.

Nevertheless, in April, knowledge utilization dropped once more by 12,592.67 terabytes in comparison with the earlier month, highlighting a persistent pressure on shopper affordability regardless of the non permanent March restoration. In tandem with the decline in web utilization, the whole variety of web subscribers additionally fell throughout the identical interval.

In January 2025, there have been 142,161,409 web subscribers throughout numerous platforms, together with cellular GSM, mounted wired networks, ISPs, and VoIP providers. By April, that quantity had declined to 141,985,207, representing a web lack of 176,202 subscribers over three months.

The most important decline occurred in February, when the subscriber base dropped by 911,296 to 141,250,113, mirroring the sharp decline in knowledge utilization in that month. March noticed a partial restoration, with whole subscribers rising to 142,053,537, earlier than dipping once more in April.

A more in-depth take a look at the platform-specific figures reveals that cellular GSM subscriptions, which account for the overwhelming majority of web customers in Nigeria, noticed a modest discount from 141.65 million in January to 141.47 million in April.

Fastened wired subscriptions elevated barely throughout the identical interval from 14,053 to 17,175, suggesting marginal enhancements in mounted broadband adoption. Wired and wi-fi ISPs maintained a flat determine of 285,702 subscribers all through the four-month interval, exhibiting no web additions.

In the meantime, VoIP subscriptions grew steadily from 206,067 in January to 210,959 in April. In contrast with the identical interval final 12 months, the development is much more telling. Web utilization in April 2025 stood at 983,283.43 terabytes, a 28.2 per cent enhance from the 766,708.12 terabytes recorded in April 2024.

Nevertheless, the whole variety of subscribers has considerably declined year-on-year. In April 2024, Nigeria had 164,555,776 web customers. By April 2025, that quantity had dropped by 22.57 million to 141,985,207, representing a 13.7 per cent lower.

This decline has been largely attributed to disconnections of SIM playing cards not linked to the Nationwide Identification Quantity, in addition to an business audit carried out final 12 months.

In line with the report, Nigerians are anticipated to face elevated prices for telecom providers after the President’s approval of the Nigeria Tax Invoice 2024, which reintroduces a controversial 5 per cent excise responsibility on telecom providers. The invoice, handed by the Senate on Might 8, 2025, will see cellular calls, textual content messages, and knowledge providers turning into dearer for shoppers.

This new tax, alongside current tariff hikes, has raised considerations inside the telecom sector, with operators warning that the transfer will burden shoppers and hamper the nation’s efforts to broaden digital inclusion. The excise responsibility was first launched within the Finance Act of 2020 below former President Muhammadu Buhari.

It was a part of an effort to increase the scope of excise taxes, however telecom operators and shopper teams strongly opposed it. They argued that the tax would add to the already excessive price of important providers in a struggling financial system.

In response to those considerations, President Bola Tinubu suspended the tax in July 2023, citing its potential to worsen inflation and limit entry to digital providers. Nevertheless, the excise responsibility is now set to return as a part of a broader tax reform initiative, because the Senate handed the invoice in Might 2025.

The invoice mandates that each home and worldwide telecom suppliers providing providers in Nigeria acquire and remit the 5 per cent tax, which is able to finally be handed on to shoppers.

A current doc from the Federal Inland Income Service highlighting key components of the payments learn, “The Invoice introduces a surcharge on telecommunications providers, gaming, and lottery.” The telecom business, already going through rising operational prices, has expressed critical reservations concerning the excise responsibility.

In line with the Affiliation of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria, operators already pay 54 totally different taxes, together with VAT, spectrum charges, and numerous levies.

The reintroduction of the excise responsibility, they argue, will place additional pressure on the sector, doubtlessly stifling restoration efforts in an business solely simply starting to bounce again from the results of forex devaluation and inflation.

MTN Nigeria reported a N133.7bn ($83.1m) revenue after tax in Q1 2025, reversing a N392.7bn ($244.06m) loss in 2024. The corporate attributed its sturdy efficiency to rising knowledge demand, strategic investments, and the current tariff hike.

Additionally, MTN Nigeria’s knowledge income overtook voice earnings within the first quarter of 2025, rising to N529.4bn, a 51.5 per cent enhance from N349.5bn recorded in Q1 2024. The telecom operator’s voice income for a similar interval stood at N407.4bn, highlighting the rising shift in shopper choice in direction of internet-based providers.

The corporate’s unaudited outcomes confirmed that knowledge now accounts for the most important share of MTN’s service income, which reached N1.05trn in Q1, up 40.5 per cent year-on-year. In comparison with the earlier quarter, knowledge earnings jumped 17 per cent, whereas voice rose by 15.5 per cent.

A part of the report said, “Information income rose by 51.5 per cent, pushed by lively consumer base progress and better knowledge consumption. This benefited from some additional help from the worth changes and our ongoing community investments to reinforce service high quality. Information site visitors elevated by 46.4 per cent, whereas common utilization per subscriber grew by 29.5 per cent to 12.8GB.”

The corporate added roughly 4 million smartphones to its community throughout the quarter, pushing smartphone penetration to 60.7 per cent. It mentioned the expansion underscores rising demand for high-speed knowledge providers.