The Nigerian telecommunications industry has become one of the largest telecommunication markets in Africa. Telecoms data for the first three months 2020 showed that a total of 189.2 subscribers were active on voice as against 184.6 million in fourth quarter 2019 and 173,7million in first quarter 2019. This represented 2.48percent increase in voice subscriptions Quarter on Quarter and 8.96percent Year on Year.
According to the Telecoms Data released by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, a total of 136.2million subscribers were active on internet as against 126.1 million in fourth quarter 2019 and 116.3million in first quarter 2019. This represented 8.03percent growth in internet subscriptions Quarter on Quarter and 17.10percent Year on Year.
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As expected, Lagos State, Nigeria’s sprawling commercial capital has the highest number of subscribers in terms of active voice per State in Q1 2020 and closely followed by Ogun and Kano States respectively while Bayelsa and Ekiti States have the least number of subscribers. Similarly, Lagos State has the highest number of subscribers in terms of active internet per State in Q1 2020 and closely followed by Kano and Ogun States respectively while Bayelsa and Ebonyi States have the least number of subscribers.
Katsina state recorded the biggest increase at 3.679 million internet subscribers in the first quarter of 2020 compared to 3.17 million and 2.6 million subscribers in the 4th quarter and 1st quarter of 2019 respectively. This represents a 15.8% jump quarter on quarter and 41.5% jump year on year. Edo State was second year on year recording 36.8percent jump to 4.3 million internet subscribers.
MTN has the highest share of voice & internet subscriptions, with 73.5million and 57.28million respectively; Glo has 33.87miilion internet subscribers and 51.85million voice subscribers; Airtel has 51.29million voice subscribers and 36.82million internet subscribers; Etisalat has 7.76million internet subscribers and 12.13million voice subscribers.
Internet subscriber’s growth in Nigeria continues to record double-digit growth and is one of the fastest in the world.
From a negligible 0.1% average contribution to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) before 1999, prior to the adoption of GSM, the sector’s contribution to GDP since 2010 has averaged 8.9% with nominal activity rising from N26.3bn to N7.4tn by 2019 (implying more than 200.0x increase).
More interestingly, the sector was the fastest growing in Nigeria between 2000 and 2010, growing at a normalized average of 34.9%, before moderating to an average growth of 4.6% from 2011 to 2019. Possible attributable factors to moderation in growth could be mobile subscribers approaching saturation, recession in 2016, intense competition and regulatory constraints. As at Dec-2019, the telecoms sector accounted for 19.6% of the larger services sector of the economy.
