Ghana’s SMS Traffic Tripled in 2025: What the Data Reveals
Ghana recorded an extraordinary increase in text-message traffic in 2025. The number of SMS messages transmitted across the country’s mobile networks rose from 3.75 billion in 2024 to 11.44 billion in 2025.
That represents a 205.04% increase in a single year, according to the National Communications Authority’s 2025 Communications Industry Report. In effect, Ghana’s mobile networks handled more than three times as many text messages in 2025 as they did the previous year.
The detailed data show that the increase was concentrated in on-net messages and on MTN’s network. However, the NCA has not published a complete breakdown separating personal, promotional, transactional and authentication messages.
SMS growth far exceeded subscriber growth
Total mobile voice subscriptions increased by 9.57%, from 39.13 million in 2024 to 42.87 million in 2025. SMS traffic, by comparison, increased by 205.04%.
Average SMS traffic per subscription consequently rose from 96 messages in 2024 to 267 in 2025, an increase of 178.39%.
Indicator | 2024 | 2025 | Change |
Total SMS traffic | 3.75bn | 11.44bn | +205.04% |
SMS per subscription | 96 | 267 | +178.39% |
Mobile subscriptions | 39.13m | 42.87m | +9.57% |
These figures establish that subscriber growth alone cannot account for the surge.
On-net messages produced most of the increase
On-net messages originate and terminate on the same mobile network, while off-net messages travel between different networks.
On-net SMS traffic rose from 2.10 billion in 2024 to 8.52 billion in 2025, an increase of 305.35%. Off-net traffic increased from 1.65 billion to 2.92 billion, representing growth of 77.12%.
On-net messages accounted for 74.48% of all SMS traffic in 2025 and approximately 83% of the total increase recorded during the year.
This concentration is one of the clearest insights from the data. The surge was driven mainly by messages remaining within the originating operator’s network rather than by evenly distributed traffic across all networks.
MTN accounted for nearly three-quarters of traffic
MTN recorded 8.51 billion SMS messages in 2025, compared with 2.10 billion in 2024. Its traffic represented 74.35% of Ghana’s total.
Telecel recorded 2.89 billion messages, representing 25.22%, while AT generated 48.88 million messages, equivalent to 0.43%.
MTN’s mobile subscriptions increased from 29.12 million to 31.26 million during the same period. The much faster growth in its SMS traffic shows that subscriber additions alone do not explain the increase.
What does the NCA identify as possible drivers?
In its Q3 2025 Statistical Bulletin, the NCA identified several potential drivers:
Promotional campaigns
Mobile-based authentication services
Mobile notifications
Other value-added applications
These are possible explanations identified by the regulator, not a quantified causal breakdown.
A separate NCA consultation paper on application-to-person messaging confirms that businesses, banks, government agencies and digital platforms use automated SMS for one-time passwords, transaction alerts, service notifications and public announcements.
The paper also states that A2P messaging supports banking, mobile money, e-commerce and government digital services in Ghana. It does not specify how much of the 2025 increase came from these applications.
MTN Ghana’s growth provides additional context. By the third quarter of 2025, its fintech revenue had increased by 36.8%, digital revenue by 106.1% and advanced fintech-services revenue by 60.7%. These figures are documented in MTN Group’s Q3 2025 trading update.
MTN does not disclose how many SMS messages these services generated, so the figures should not be interpreted as proof of causation.
The surge continued into 2026
The increase was sustained throughout 2025. Quarterly traffic rose from 1.80 billion in the first quarter to 3.67 billion in the fourth quarter.
Ghana then recorded 3.94 billion messages in the first quarter of 2026, up 7.42% from the preceding quarter and 118.87% from Q1 2025. MTN accounted for 79.16% of that traffic. NCA Q1 2026 Statistical Bulletin.
SMS is taking on a different role
The evidence does not establish that Ghanaians suddenly returned to personal texting. What it confirms is a sharp increase concentrated in on-net and MTN traffic, alongside growing use of SMS for promotions, authentication and service notifications.
A definitive explanation will require the NCA and operators to publish traffic separately for personal, transactional, promotional, local A2P and international A2P messages. Until then, the scale and concentration of the surge are clear, but the precise contribution of each use case cannot be measured. Join our WhatsApp group to receive data viz insights on Ghana and Africa directly: https://chat.whatsapp.com/JCqBvBWfqjILTxiaCqFhCx?mode=wwt
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