By Mercy Peter
The Telecommunications performance in 2025 has been attributed to a surge in Data Consumption, massive Infrastructure investment amongst other factors.
The sector contributed 8.3% to the country’s Gross Domestic Product in the year under review, according to the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics.
The Bureau identified a surge in data consumption with 148 million internet users consuming 1.4 million terabytes of data in December 2025 alone. The rising demand for mobile data holds the key to the growth engine.
Active subscriptions, according to NBS climbed to nearly 180 million in 2025, while Broadband penetration rose to 51.97%, crossing the halfway mark (though below the 70% national target).
The sub-sector has remained critical to Nigeria’s Economy as it powered Digital banking and fintech, E-commerce and online retail, Remote work and education, Entertainment streaming and content creation and SME digital transformation.
Besides, the sub-sector recorded a massive Infrastructure Investments within the period.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) revealed several large-scale deployments in 2025:90,000km fibre-optic backbone (Project Bridge) 2,800 new telecom towers Over $1 billion invested in fibre cables and telecom sites.
These upgrade, expanded coverage, improved network quality, and supported broadband penetration growth also played a vital role in the telecom contribution to the national GDP.
The sub-sector also recorded expansion as Major Telcos ramped up capital expenditure and network expansion
For example, MTN Nigeria recorded a surge in investment from ₦443.5 billion in 2024 to ₦1 trillion in 2025.
This was followed by Globacom, which deployed new base stations, expanded fibre backbone and also rolled out hybrid battery power systems.
Airtel Nigeria on its part secured a Direct-to-Cell partnership with Starlink, rxpanded fibre footprint by 25% more than doubled active 5G sites.
