Nigerian telecom operators recorded an addition of 2.5 million new subscribers to make up a total of 148 million from 145.5 million which it stood at as of March 2022, recent data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) shows.
On a year-on-year basis, the number of mobile subscribers declined by about 2.24 percent that month due to the government’s suspension of SIM registration and activation between December 2020 and April 2021.
The growth recorded this year however continues on the back of the NCC’s lifting of the prohibition on new card sales and activation after a temporary halt on sales to allow for the National Identification Number (NIN) and SIM card integration exercise.
MTN Nigeria, the largest operator by number of subscribers, maintained its position as it gained 1.1 million new internet subscribers bringing its total subscription database to 61.8 million.
Airtel overtook Globacom in the period under review to become the second-largest operator in terms of internet subscriptions. The telecom added over 918,000 subscribers in April, which brought its total internet subscribers to 40.2 million.
For Globacom, it also gained new subscriptions in the month, adding over 331,000 subscribers. At the end of April, its internet subscriptions database stood at 39.8 million.
However, 9mobile’s internet subscription declined in the month. The telecom operator lost over 107,000 subscriptions, which brought its database to 5.4 million at the end of April.
Read also: ‘Telecom tax’ not in health insurance Act Buhari signed
Broadband subscriptions, which is the number of subscriptions to fixed and mobile broadband services also rose to 81.6 million in April from 80.6 million recorded in March this year.
This brought the country’s broadband penetration to 42.7 percent, a 1.18 percentage increase from 42.2 percent recorded in March.
In the broadband plan document, President Muhammadu Buhari noted that every 10 percent increase in broadband penetration results in about 2.6 percent to 3.8 per cent growth in GDP.
The NCC data shows the contribution of the telecoms industry to GDP increased from 11.94 percent in Q3 2021 to 12.61 per cent in Q4 2021, a 5.61 percentage increase.
The broadband plan intends to cover 90 percent of the population and deliver 25 megabits per second (Mbps) in urban areas, and 10 Mbps in rural areas.
“Rapid rollout of broadband services will address various socio-economic challenges faced by the country, including the need to grow its economy, create jobs, rapidly expand the tax base, and improve digital literacy and educational standards.
“This will also address identity management and security challenges through the effective use of technology, increase financial inclusion and deliver a broad range of services to its people to improve the quality of life and work towards attainment of Social Development Goals set by the UN for 2030”, it stated.
For teledensity, it recorded a slight increase by 1.05 percent from 104.5 in March and currently stands at 105.6 percent. Nigeria’s teledensity is calculated by the number of fixed (landline) telephone connections per 100 people in a specific geographic area, based on a population estimate of 190 million.
