NCC: 123m Nigerians now have internet access

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says the number of Nigerians with access to the internet has increased to 123.5 million in October.

This is in comparison to the 114.3 million internet subscribers recorded in January 2019; indicating an increase of 9.2 million within nine months.

Data released by the commission also showed that active mobile voice subscribers increased from 174,012,136 to 180,386,316 within the same period.

This means that 91% of Nigeria’s 198 million population now have access to telecommunications services.

MTN Nigeria still holds the lion share of the market, having 67,348,858 subscribers which translate to 36.93%.

Globacom has 51,137,642 subscribers and Airtel, 49,650,155 subscribers.

In total, there are 49 individual internet service providers operating in the country.

These 49 provide services to 274,717 subscribers.

At present, there is a risk of increased charges on the part of service providers as 14 states recently increased their right of way (RoW) charges.

The RoW charge is the levy paid to state governments for laying of optic fibre on state roads.

Some of the states increased the charges to N5,000 per linear metre as against the N142 per linear metre agreed on by the national economic council.

Isa Pantami, the minister of communications and digital economy, has warned the states to reverse the charges as it could lead to increased costs of telcos and a hike in consumer charges.