Internet subscribers reduced by 24.5m in a year, says NCC

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says the country’s internet subscribers rose to 139.28 million in December 2024 — but dropped when compared to the 163.83 million recorded in December 2023.

This means the country’s internet subscribers reduced by 24.5 million or 15 percent within a year.

In its latest industry statistics published on Monday, the commission said out of the figure, mobile (GSM) accounted for 138.77 million subscribers — leaving the remaining subscribers under fixed wired and VoIP.

TheCable Index analysis showed that all telecommunication companies recorded an increase in internet subscriptions — except for 9mobile — in the period under review.

According to the regulator, the number of MTN Nigeria’s internet subscribers rose by 1.61 million to 72.22 million in December — up from 70.60 million in November 2024.

On a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis, the internet subscribers of the South African telecoms giant grew by 1.56 million relative to the 70.65 recorded in December 2023. 

The NCC said Airtel gained 1.24 million subscribers, climbing from 46.17 million in November to 47.41 million in December. This marked an increase of 2.34 million compared to the 45 million recorded in December 2023.

On the other hand, Globacom internet subscribers moved from 17.19 million in November 2024 to 17 million in December — down by 117,711.

The commission said Globacom’s subscribers dropped by 26.92 million when compared with the 43.99 million recorded in December 2023.

However, the number of 9mobile subscribers (2.06 million) remained unchanged between November and December 2024. In a year, the telco lost 1.56 million subscribers relative to 3.63 million in December 2023.

The NCC industry statistics also showed that there were 164.9 million subscribers for telephony services in December 2024.

The figure increased by 5 million from 159.8 million recorded in November, but fell by 59.7 million when compared with the 224.7 million recorded in December 2023.

Out of the total value of 164 million subscribers, MTN is said to have recorded 84.6 million active telephony subscribers, Airtel accounted for 56.61 million, Globacom got 20.13 million while 9mobile remained at 3.23 million.

The NCC said broadband penetration increased from 43.16 percent in November 2024 to 44.43 percent in December.

Broadband penetration is the number of subscriptions to fixed and mobile broadband services divided by the number of residents in a country.

The telecoms regulator also said data usage climbed to 973,455.35 terabytes in the period under review — up by 260,254.75 from the 713,200.6 terabytes recorded in December 2023.

The commission said in terms of generation, 5G and 4G recorded 2.46 percent and 47.2 percent usage respectively; while 3G was 8.75 percent in December 2024.