Nigeria plans a major expansion of mobile spectrum capacity by the end of the decade as surging data consumption threatens to outpace existing network resources, according to a draft roadmap released by the Nigerian Communications Commission.
Internet usage reached a record 1.24 million terabytes in November 2025, up from 1.235 million terabytes in October, the latest NCC data show.
The increase reflects steady growth in digital activity across the country and underscores rising pressure on mobile networks.
The regulator says current spectrum holdings will be insufficient to support projected growth in broadband demand, driven by rising smartphone adoption, 5G deployment, and data-intensive services.
In the Draft Spectrum Roadmap 2025–2030, the NCC projects that national mobile data traffic will almost triple within five years, rising from about 11.9 exabytes in 2025 to more than 31 exabytes by 2030, as average data usage per subscriber doubles and active mobile subscriptions climb toward 220 million.
To cope with this surge, the Commission said Nigeria would need to significantly scale up spectrum resources available for International Mobile Telecommunications.
