Big Data Analytics Capabilities and Competitive Advantage in Nigerian Telecommunications Firms

Big data analytics capabilities have emerged as a potential source of competitive advantage for telecommunications firms, enabling superior network optimisation, customer churn prediction, and targeted service personalisation. This study examines whether big data analytics capabilities generate measurable competitive advantages for Nigerian telecommunications companies, analysing four major operators including MTN Nigeria, Airtel Nigeria, Glo Mobile, and 9mobile. A resource-based view theoretical framework was employed, conceptualising big data analytics capabilities as organisational resources encompassing data infrastructure, analytical talent, and data-driven culture. A survey of 120 senior IT and marketing managers across the four operators was conducted, with competitive advantage operationalised through subscriber growth rates, customer satisfaction indices, and revenue per user trends sourced from public financial filings and Nigeria Communications Commission data. Structural equation modelling results reveal that data infrastructure maturity and data-driven culture have significant positive effects on competitive advantage, while analytical talent shows a smaller but statistically significant contribution moderated by management support for analytics. The study finds evidence that analytics maturity differentiates competitive performance within the sector, with MTN and Airtel significantly outperforming smaller operators on analytics capability dimensions. Recommendations for smaller operators include ecosystem-based analytics partnerships and cloud analytics adoption. Keywords: big data analytics, competitive advantage, telecommunications, Nigeria, resource-based view.