Nigeria’s active telephone lines have increased to reach 133.2 million as of August ending this year, according to the latest subscriber base figures released by the telecoms industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
In the latest data released by the Commission, up from 132.7 million active telephone subscriptions in July, the number of telephone lines declined slightly to 132.1 million. However, the telecoms industry recorded an upswing in active subscriptions in August, as telecoms operators ended the month with 133.2 million telephone lines, as over 1.1 million additional phone lines were accrued by the networks.
It was learnt that the figures represent the total industry numbers pulled by all the three segments of the telecoms industry, including the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) and fixed wired/wireless networks in the country.
Further analysis of the NCC data revealed that of the total 133.3 million active mobile subscriptions, GSM operators including MTN, Airtel, Globacom and Etisalat had 130.8 million lines; CDMA networks such as Visafone and dormant Multi-Links, Starcomms and Zoom Mobile still had 2.2 million lines, while fixed networks had 190,507 lines.
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Telecoms operators ended 2013 with combined industry’s active subscriber base of 127 million and this figure has since grown month-on-month to reach 133.2 million in August. Similarly, teledensity, which defines level of phone penetration in the country, has also increased from 91.15 percent in January this year to 94.42 percent at the end of August.
Meanwhile, the NCC has declared 13 telecoms operators that were hitherto vibrant, as inactive.
The operators became inactive following the total loss of their customers to other operators that are currently pulling weight in the industry. Majority of the inactive operators had since gone into extinction and could no longer offer competitive services to their customers, who decided to choose other network operators, mostly the GSM networks. The list of inactive operators, which was posted on NCC’s website, include one national carrier, one GSM operator, five CDMA operators, and six Fixed/Fixed Wireless operators.
The operators include NITEL, MTel, Starcomms, Reliance Telecoms (Zoom Mobile), Intercellular, MTS First Communications, WiTel, O’ Net (Odua Telecoms), Rainbownet, Monarch Communications, Xs Broadband, Webcom, and Disc Communications. All the operators were once vibrant, but became inactive due to their inability to cope with market competition. Starcomms, for instance was at some point, the largest and most vibrant CDMA operator in the country, but suddenly went down the drain.
The once largest CDMA operator in the country, agreed to an outright sale of the company to Capcom, which promised to merge its operations with MultiLinks and MTS First Wireless, after buying the two CDMA operators.
It was revealed that the plan to merge the three CDMA operators into a bigger and stronger operator that could compete with GSM operators, had hit the rock. The failure of the transaction, it was gathered, followed the loss of faith in the CDMA segment of the industry, as prospective investors believed the proposed $210 investment, that could have raised a major CDMA operator in the country with better financial muscle, might not yield returns.
Ben Uzor
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