Data consumption in Nigeria surged to an all-time high of 1.04 million terabytes in May 2025, according to new figures from the Nigerian Communications Commission.

This comes as the number of internet subscribers continued to shrink.

The figure marks the highest monthly data usage recorded since the NCC began publishing such data in January 2023.

It represents a sharp increase from April’s 983,283 terabytes and surpasses the previous peak of 1 million terabytes recorded in January 2025.

Despite this growth in usage, the number of active internet subscriptions fell to 141.5 million in May from 141.9 million in April.

The decline follows a recent 50% hike in data tariffs by telecom operators, which appears to be pushing some users offline.

Mobile network operators—MTN, Airtel, Globacom, and 9mobile—accounted for most of the losses, with their combined internet subscriptions dropping to 141 million in May from 141.4 million the previous month.

Total active mobile subscriptions also slipped slightly to 172.4 million from April’s 172.6 million, reflecting the broader impact of rising telecom costs on consumer behavior.

Despite the dip in subscriber numbers, the record data usage suggests that remaining users are consuming significantly more data—driven by increasing reliance on streaming, remote work, and digital services.