NCC: Nigeria’s mobile internet subscribers increased by 57.2m in eight years

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says the country’s mobile internet subscribers rose to 154.28 million in December 2022 — a 37 percent increase in eight years.

The commission said this in a recent update of industry statistics published on its website.

Of the total figure, mobile (GSM) accounted for 154.27 million subscribers — leaving fixed wire, and VoIP for the remaining subscribers.

According to the NCC data, the total number of active mobile internet subscribers increased to 154.28 million at the end of December 2022 — from 97.03 million recorded in December 2015.

By implication, this means that the country’s mobile internet subscribers increased by 57.24 million within the last eight years.

In the period under review, analysis by TheCable Index showed that all mobile networks recorded an increase in internet subscriptions — except 9mobile.

MTN Nigeria’s internet subscribers increased by 25.69 million from 39.92 million in December 2022 to 65.61 million in December 2022.

Subscribers for Airtel and Globacom increased by 24.33 million and 17.96 million, respectively.

9mobile, on the other hand, lost 10.75 internet subscribers, dropping from 15.18 million in December 2015 to 4.43 million in December 2022.

The NCC industry data also showed that the contribution of the telecoms industry to GDP increased from 8.50 percent in 2015 to 12.85 percent in Q3 2022.

It added that the country’s teledensity also increased from 107.87 percent in December 2015 to 116.60 percent in December 2022.

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.