Data from the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has shown that Lagos and Ogun states had the highest number of active voice and internet subscribers as of the end of 2023.
The NBS revealed this in its latest ‘Telecoms Data on Active Voice and Internet per State, Porting and Tariff Information’ report. As of the end of the fourth quarter of 2023, Lagos has 26.74 million voice subscriptions and 18.93 million Internet subscriptions.
Read also: Nigeria: Lagos leads in internet users despite economic challenges
Ogun had 13.07 million active voice subscriptions and 9.57 million Internet subscriptions. Kano completes the top three states with 12.33 million mobile subscriptions and 9.03 million Internet subscriptions.
Bayelsa, Zamfara, and Gombe had the least voice and Internet subscriptions in 2023. The NBS highlighted, “On the other hand, Bayelsa still recorded the least with 1,557,786, followed by Zamfara and Gombe with 2,772,424 and 2,785,030, respectively.
“Likewise, Bayelsa recorded the least active internet subscriber with 1,193,525, followed by Zamfara and Gombe with 1,959,252 and 2,100,073 respectively.”
MTN Nigeria continues to dominate the telecom space. As of the end of Q4, 2023, it had 87.04 million and 70.66 million voice and Internet subscriptions, respectively. Globacom had 61.61 million and 43.99 million voice and Internet subscriptions, respectively.
On network usage, it was noted that MTN had the highest active voice and internet subscribers throughout the year, with others following closely. Airtel had 61.83 million and 45.06 million voice and Internet subscriptions, respectively. And 9mobile had 13.94 million and 3.63 million voice and Internet subscriptions, respectively.
As of the end of Q4, 2023, Nigeria’s total number of voice subscriptions was 224.71 million, and Internet subscriptions totalled 163.84 million.
Lagos continues to dominate the nation’s telecom space because of its high population density and level of development. It also has the country’s largest kilometer of deployed fibre optic cable. As of 2023, Lagos had 7,864.60km of deployed optic cables.
Read also: Nigeria plans Internet access for 774 LGAs to close digital divide
Fibre optic cables are crucial to achieving wider connectivity across the nation. Other states that have large areas covered, according to the Ministry of Communication, Innovation and Digital Economy, include Edo (4,892.71km), FCT (4,472.03km), Ogun (4,189.18km), Niger (3,681.66km), Kaduna (3,028.88km), Delta (2,750.42km), Kano and Kogi have 2,697.72km and 2,602.25kn respectively.
