Nigeria Telecoms Subscribers
171.7M Voice · 141.2M Internet
Nigeria had 171.7 million active voice subscribers and 141.2 million internet subscribers in Q2 2025. MTN leads with 52% of voice lines. Internet penetration grew 3.4% year-on-year.
Active Voice Lines
171.7M
Q2 2025 · +0.48% YoY
Internet Subscribers
141.2M
Q2 2025 · +3.42% YoY
MTN Market Share
52.0%
of voice subscribers
9mobile Ported Out
3,372
subscribers left in Q2
Subscribers by Operator
MTN
Voice: 89.2M
Internet: 76.5M
Airtel
Voice: 59.0M
Internet: 49.4M
Glo
Voice: 20.9M
Internet: 13.7M
9mobile
Voice: 2.4M
Internet: 1.1M
Editor's Insight
What 171 million subscribers really tells us about Nigeria's telecoms
171M voice lines for 220M people — not everyone is connected
Nigeria has 171 million active voice lines for an estimated 220 million people. But active lines ≠ unique users — many Nigerians carry multiple SIMs across operators. Real unique phone penetration is significantly lower than the headline number suggests, particularly among children, elderly, and rural populations.
Internet growing faster than voice — data is the future
Internet subscribers grew 3.42% YoY while voice grew just 0.48%. Nigeria's telecoms market has matured for voice and is now a data market. The battle between MTN (76.5M internet users) and Airtel (49.4M) will be won on data pricing, 5G rollout, and network quality — not voice.
MTN controls Nigeria's telecoms — 52% voice, 54% internet
MTN Nigeria's dominance is structural. With 89.2 million voice lines and 76.5 million internet users, MTN is effectively Nigeria's digital infrastructure. This concentration raises competition questions: Nigeria's internet prices, data quality, and rural access are all downstream of whatever pricing decisions MTN makes.
9mobile is in terminal decline — 3,372 left in one quarter
9mobile lost 3,372 subscribers to number porting in Q2 2025 alone — 82% of all porting activity. With just 2.4M active voice lines remaining, 9mobile has effectively become a rounding error in Nigeria's telecoms market. Its decline raises questions about spectrum reallocation and whether it will be acquired, merged, or eventually wound down.
About this data
Data sourced from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Telecoms Report Q2 2025. Subscriber figures are active lines as reported by operators to NCC and compiled by NBS. Figures.ng republishes official NBS data for every Nigerian.