from OKORO CHINEDU in Lagos, Nigeria
Nigeria Bureau
LAGOS, (CAJ News) – THE steady decline in Nigeria’s mobile subscriptions poses a major concern, given the growing importance of the telecommunications sector to the economy.
Statistics by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) indicate the number of active mobile lines declined slightly by 1 percent month-on-month to 223,7 million as at April 2023.
This marks the second consecutive monthly reduction in active subscribers.
In contrast, internet connections grew modestly by 4 percent m/m to 158,2 million.
This represents a mobile teledensity of 112% and an internet penetration of 79 percent, based on a population of 200 million.
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On a yearly basis, active mobile lines and internet connections increased by 11 percent and 7 percent respectively.
In line with the trend in the previous month, the monthly decrease in active mobile lines was driven by MTN Nigeria, with a subscriber loss of 3 million.
In spite of the decline of active mobile subscribers, MTN still retained its spot as the largest mobile network operator, with a customer base of 88,6 million as at the end of April.
The subscriber base of the other three operators, Airtel, Globacom and 9mobile were not negatively impacted by the loss of mobile subscribers.
Globacom, the second largest mobile network by subscribers, had net customer additions of over 128 000 mobile users, taking its active customer base to 60,9 million.
Airtel gained a modest addition of over 3 000 new users. This brought its total active customer base to 60,3 million as at April.
9mobile recorded the largest addition in the month under review, with an accretion of over 262 000 users, taking its customer base to 13,4 million.
“Despite the upward pressure on operating expenses due to the high level of inflation and the downward adjustment of the naira currency, the information and communication sector remains one of the fastest growing sectors of the economy,” FBN Quest, the market watcher, stated.
Nigeria is Africa’s largest nation by economy and population. Telecommunications are seen as playing a key role in diversifying the economy of the West African country from oil.
– CAJ News