Nigeria’s active mobile subscriptions have climbed to 200.3 million in September 2026, recovering from the sharp drop that followed the government’s enforcement of the National Identification Number (NIN)-SIM linkage policy.
The latest figure represents a 29% increase over two years, showing a steady recovery in the country’s telecommunications market. However, the growth remains heavily concentrated among two major operators, MTN and Airtel, which together account for about 86% of active mobile connections.
Data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) shows that MTN led the market with 104.6 million active subscriptions in September, followed by Airtel with 68 million. Globacom recorded 23.5 million, while T2 had 3.6 million.
Together, MTN and Airtel accounted for approximately 172.7 million of Nigeria’s 200.1 million active subscriptions recorded across the four operators.
It is important to note that these figures represent active mobile connections, not the number of individual phone users. One person can own multiple SIM cards, while some active subscriptions are used in routers and other connected devices.
The recovery marks a major milestone after the NIN-SIM verification exercise significantly reduced the number of reported mobile connections in 2024.
The policy, introduced in 2020, required mobile subscribers to link their phone numbers to verified NIN records. Enforcement became stricter in 2024, when telecommunications operators began disconnecting lines that did not meet the verification requirements.
According to the NCC’s 2024 year-end performance report, active mobile subscriptions fell from 224.7 million in 2023 to 164.9 million in 2024. This represented a loss of 59.8 million connections, or 26.6%.
The commission attributed the decline to the removal of SIM cards without verifiable NIN records, alongside corrections to a major discrepancy in one operator’s subscriber figures.
By August 2024, more than 153 million SIM cards had been linked to NINs, representing 96% compliance. The regulator later set September 14, 2024, as the final deadline for operators to complete the exercise.
Mobile data consumption continues to rise
The growth in active subscriptions has also come with increased demand for mobile internet services.
Mobile data consumption reached 1.73 million terabytes in September 2026, representing a 51% increase compared with the same period a year earlier.
However, the transition to faster network technology remains uneven across the country.
4G accounted for 54.37% of mobile connections, while 5G represented just 5.05%. Meanwhile, 2G and 3G networks still made up 36.42% and 4.16%, respectively.
Beyond mobile connectivity, fixed broadband infrastructure is also expanding. NCC figures show that Fibre-to-the-X subscriptions increased by about 67% between the first and third quarters of 2026. The technology covers fibre connections to homes, offices, streets and distribution hubs.
The telecommunications sector is also becoming an increasingly important part of Nigeria’s economy. It contributed 9.72% to gross domestic product (GDP) in the second quarter of 2026, up from 9.20% during the same period in 2025.
The NCC noted that figures from late 2024 and early 2025 were affected by the National Bureau of Statistics’ GDP rebasing exercise.
With active mobile subscriptions now back above 200 million, Nigeria’s telecoms market has regained much of the ground lost during the NIN-SIM cleanup. The next challenge will be expanding access to faster networks and ensuring that rising connectivity translates into better digital services for consumers and businesses.