How Much Does Data Cost in Nigeria?
Best value per GB
Glo 45GB
Best under ₦5,000
Glo, ₦166.67/GB
Cheapest month
2GB, MTN
Share of minimum wage
₦5,000 against ₦70,000 a month
These are national prices, not Abuja prices. Nigerian telco tariffs are set nationally: an MTN bundle costs the same in Abuja as in Kano. That makes this the one page on this site with no local figure — unlike electricity, where NERC sets AEDC’s tariff for the FCT specifically, or transport, where the NBS publishes a genuine Abuja row. What is local is coverage and speed, and that is treated separately below.
What a gigabyte actually costs
Read off MTN, Airtel, Glo’s own sites on 6 August 2026. Enter a budget to see the most data each network will sell you for it.
| Network | Plan | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glo | 45GB Always On1.5GB a day | 45GB | ₦7,000 | ₦155.56 |
| Glo | 30GB Always On1GB a day | 30GB | ₦5,000 | ₦166.67 |
| Airtel | 160GB | 160GB | ₦30,000 | ₦187.50 |
| Airtel | 210GB | 210GB | ₦40,000 | ₦190.48 |
| MTN | 45GB Always OnSame price as the 25GB plan, 80% more data | 45GB | ₦9,000 | ₦200.00 |
| Airtel | 100GB2GB YouTube night + 200MB social | 100GB | ₦20,000 | ₦200.00 |
| MTN | 165GB | 165GB | ₦35,000 | ₦212.12 |
| MTN | 250GB | 250GB | ₦55,000 | ₦220.00 |
| Glo | 15GB Always On512MB a day | 15GB | ₦3,500 | ₦233.33 |
| MTN | 75GB | 75GB | ₦18,000 | ₦240.00 |
| MTN | 65GB | 65GB | ₦16,000 | ₦246.15 |
| Airtel | 60GB2GB YouTube night + 200MB social | 60GB | ₦15,000 | ₦250.00 |
| Airtel | 35GB2GB YouTube night + 200MB social | 35GB | ₦10,000 | ₦285.71 |
| MTN | 18.6GB Always OnSame price as the 12.5GB plan above, half as much again of data | 18.6GB | ₦5,500 | ₦295.70 |
| MTN | 36GB | 36GB | ₦11,000 | ₦305.56 |
| Airtel | 25GB2GB YouTube night + 200MB social | 25GB | ₦8,000 | ₦320.00 |
| Glo | 6GB Always On410MB a day | 6GB | ₦2,000 | ₦333.33 |
| Airtel | 18GB2GB YouTube night + 200MB social | 18GB | ₦6,000 | ₦333.33 |
| MTN | 25GBSame price as the 45GB Always On plan | 25GB | ₦9,000 | ₦360.00 |
| Airtel | 8GB2GB YouTube night + 200MB social | 8GB | ₦3,000 | ₦375.00 |
| MTN | 20GB | 20GB | ₦7,500 | ₦375.00 |
| Airtel | 13GB2GB YouTube night + 200MB social | 13GB | ₦5,000 | ₦384.62 |
| MTN | 16.5GB + 10 mins | 16.5GB | ₦6,500 | ₦393.94 |
| Airtel | 10GB2GB YouTube night + 200MB social | 10GB | ₦4,000 | ₦400.00 |
| MTN | 12.5GBSame price as the 18.6GB Always On plan below | 12.5GB | ₦5,500 | ₦440.00 |
| MTN | 10GB + 10 mins | 10GB | ₦4,500 | ₦450.00 |
| MTN | 7GB | 7GB | ₦3,500 | ₦500.00 |
| Airtel | 4GB2GB YouTube night + 200MB social | 4GB | ₦2,500 | ₦625.00 |
| Airtel | 3GB2GB YouTube night + 200MB social | 3GB | ₦2,000 | ₦666.67 |
| MTN | 3.5GB + 5 mins | 3.5GB | ₦2,500 | ₦714.29 |
| MTN | 2.7GB + 2 mins | 2.7GB | ₦2,000 | ₦740.74 |
| MTN | 2GB + 2 mins200MB YouTube all day, 2GB night streaming | 2GB | ₦1,500 | ₦750.00 |
| Airtel | 2GB2GB YouTube night + 200MB social | 2GB | ₦1,500 | ₦750.00 |
Showing 33 of 33 plans. Per GB is calculated, not quoted — price divided by bundle size, so it cannot drift from the two figures beside it. Sorted by value rather than price by default, because at least two plans here cost the same as a smaller sibling.
2 pairs of plans cost the same for different amounts of data
“Buy the biggest bundle you can afford” is decent advice that fails here. These are the same network, at the same price, for materially different data — so the choice is made by which plan you happen to see first.
MTN sells 25GB and 45GB both for ₦9,000. That is 20GB more for the same money — ₦200.00/GB against ₦360.00/GB.
The larger one is “45GB Always On” — Text 163 to 312.
MTN sells 12.5GB and 18.6GB both for ₦5,500. That is 6.100000000000001GB more for the same money — ₦295.70/GB against ₦440.00/GB.
The larger one is “18.6GB Always On” — Text 162 to 312.
What a month of data costs against everything else
| A month of data — 30GB, best under ₦5,000 | ₦5,000 |
|---|---|
| As a share of the minimum wage — ₦70,000 a month | 7.1% |
| Against a month of food — ₦129,432 | 3.9% |
| Against take-home — ₦402,200 a month on ₦6,000,000 a year | 1.2% |
Data is the smallest of the recurring bills this site tracks, and the one most often treated as optional. It is not: it is how people bank, work and are paid. The salary line is a worked example on one stated figure, not a claim about every household.
Coverage is the only thing about this that is local
The prices are national. What differs by where you stand is whether the network works. These notes are observed and reported, not measured by us — we run no speed tests and publish no coverage map.
MTN
78.1m subscribers · 2024-12
The widest footprint in Nigeria, and the most consistent coverage outside the major cities. In Abuja itself all four networks work; the difference shows on the road out.
Check the price yourself: *312# — MTN also sells by SMS keyword — text the code in the table to 312. Both are listed on mtn.ng.
Airtel
52.1m subscribers · 2024-12
Strong in Abuja and the other major cities. Widely reported as the fastest in urban centres, though we have not measured it.
Check the price yourself: no code published on their site — Airtel's plan page sells through in-page buttons and did not publish a USSD code beside the tariffs we read, so none is quoted here rather than guessed at.
Glo
8.6m subscribers · 2024-12
The best published value per gigabyte, with the trade-off in coverage — reliable in Lagos and Abuja, inconsistent well outside them. That trade-off is the whole reason the per-gigabyte ranking and the coverage note have to be read together.
Check the price yourself: *312# — Shown on Glo's own plan cards. Other guides list *127# and *777#; if the code here does not work, the operator's site is the thing to check, not us.
T2 (formerly 9mobile) — no rows on this page
No reachable operator site on build day. t2.ng and www.t2.ng do not resolve; 9mobile.com.ng resolves but does not respond; t2africa.com is an unrelated "launching soon" placeholder. With about 1.1 million subscribers at the end of 2024 it is the smallest of the four, but its plans are missing here because we could not source them — not because they do not exist.
Four things about Nigerian data that are widely repeated and wrong
9mobile is now T2
Commonly saidComparison guides across the Nigerian web still list the fourth network as 9mobile.
What the text saysIt rebranded to T2. The name change is the least of it for a page like this: on build day none of the T2 or 9mobile web properties we could find would serve a plan list at all.
What this page doesT2 has no rows in the table on this page. It is named in the coverage note with the reason, so its absence reads as a gap we checked rather than a network we forgot.
The biggest bundle is usually the best value — but not always, and MTN sells two proofs
Commonly saidBuy the largest bundle you can afford and you will always get the lowest price per gigabyte.
What the text saysUsually true, and on this page there are two clear exceptions, both from the same operator at the same price. MTN sells 12.5GB and 18.6GB for ₦5,500 each, and 25GB and 45GB for ₦9,000 each. In both cases the "Always On" variant is the larger bundle at an identical price. A reader picking by price alone, or by the first plan in a list, pays the same money for materially less data.
What this page doesThe table sorts by price per gigabyte rather than by bundle size, which puts the better-value plan above its identically priced sibling. The pairs are flagged in the plan notes.
These prices are not Abuja prices
Commonly saidA page on a site about Abuja costs implies the figures are local.
What the text saysTelco tariffs in Nigeria are national. An MTN bundle costs the same in Abuja as in Kano or Maiduguri. This is unlike electricity, where NERC sets AEDC's tariff specifically for the FCT and Nasarawa, and unlike transport, where the NBS publishes a genuine Abuja row.
What this page doesThe scope note sits above the first price on the page. What is genuinely local — coverage quality and speed — is treated separately and labelled as observed rather than measured by us.
The USSD codes in circulation disagree with each other
Commonly saidGuides list MTN's data menu as *312#, *131# and *559# in three different places, and Glo's as *127#, *777# or *312#.
What the text saysWe publish only what the operator's own site showed on the day we read it, and leave the field empty where it showed nothing — Airtel's plan page sells through in-page buttons and quoted no code at all.
What this page doesThe code is printed beside each network so you can dial it and confirm the price yourself. That matters more here than on any other page on this site: telco prices change without notice and between our deploys, so the reader's own check is the real safeguard.
Common questions
Which network has the cheapest data in Nigeria?
By price per gigabyte, Glo — 45GB for ₦7,000 is ₦155.56 a gigabyte.
Cheapest per gigabyte is not the same as best for you. The value here comes with coverage that is reliable in Lagos and Abuja and inconsistent well outside them — a trade-off the table cannot show, which is why the coverage notes sit beside it.
How much is 1GB of data in Nigeria?
It depends entirely on how much you buy at once. The best rate here is ₦155.56 on a 45GB bundle; small bundles cost several times that. At a common ₦5,000 spend the best is 30GB from Glo — ₦166.67 a gigabyte. There is no single price for a gigabyte in Nigeria.
Why did Nigerian data prices go up?
The NCC approved a 50% tariff increase in early 2025 — the first major adjustment in over a decade — with operators citing operating costs, infrastructure and naira depreciation.
MTN initially went much further, taking a 15GB plan from about ₦2,000 to ₦6,000 — roughly 200%. The NLC threatened industrial action and student groups protested; MTN reverted, and all four networks settled near the approved 50%.
What happened to 9mobile?
It rebranded to T2. Most comparison guides still list it under the old name.
No reachable operator site on build day. t2.ng and www.t2.ng do not resolve; 9mobile.com.ng resolves but does not respond; t2africa.com is an unrelated "launching soon" placeholder. With about 1.1 million subscribers at the end of 2024 it is the smallest of the four, but its plans are missing here because we could not source them — not because they do not exist.
Is the biggest bundle always the best value?
Usually, but not reliably. On this page MTN sells 25GB and 45GB at the same ₦9,000; MTN sells 12.5GB and 18.6GB at the same ₦5,500.
The larger bundle costs no more, so choosing by price alone means paying the same money for less data. Sort by price per gigabyte, which is what the table does by default.
How do I check my data balance and prices?
Dial the code for your network: MTN *312#, Airtel — none published, Glo *312#.
We publish only what each operator listed on their own site; third-party guides quote codes that disagree with each other. Prices change without notice, so dialling is the only way to be certain of anything here.
How much of a minimum wage does data cost?
A 30GB month at ₦5,000 is 7.1% of the minimum wage, and 3.9% of a month of food. The smallest recurring bill this site tracks, and the one most often treated as optional — which it is not.
Are these Abuja prices?
No — and this is the one page on abuja.cool where that is true. Nigerian telco tariffs are national. That differs from electricity and transport, where genuinely FCT-specific figures exist. The only local thing here is coverage and speed, reported as observed rather than measured.
Methodology and sources
Where the prices come from. Each operator’s own site, read on 6 August 2026: mtn.ng, airtel.com.ng, gloworld.com. Secondary comparison guides were used only as a cross-check and are the source of nothing here. That is why these carry a verified badge.
Why there is no pull script. Every other dated series on this site is regenerated by a script. These three operator sites are client-rendered applications that return an empty document to a plain fetch — the plans exist only after JavaScript runs. A dated, hand-verified capture with the source URL on every row is the more honest artifact than a scraper that would break silently on their next redesign.
Price per gigabyte is calculated — price divided by bundle size, at the moment the page renders. It is never stored, so it cannot survive a price change and contradict the figures beside it. Operators publish their own rate-per-MB columns; several of them disagree with their own arithmetic, which is a further reason to derive it.
This page goes stale faster than any other on this site. Nigerian telcos change bundles without notice and without a publication schedule. That is why every network carries the code to dial and check for yourself, and why the freshness board holds this series to a short tolerance.
Glo is partially covered. Only their “Always On” range rendered on their site; the standard monthly table sits in a carousel that did not load. Those plans are absent rather than guessed at, so Glo’s row count is lower than the others and its cheapest entry point may be lower than shown.