Nigeria’s internet subscribers increased by 1.4m in September, says NCC

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says the country’s internet subscribers rose to 132.40 million in September 2024.

In its industry report published on Monday, NCC said the country’s internet subscribers rose from 130.94 million recorded in August – an increase of 1.45 million.

Analysis by TheCable Index showed that MTN, Airtel, and Glo recorded an increase in internet subscriptions, however, 9mobile reported a decline.

According to the regulator, MTN’s internet subscribers rose by 866,406 to 68.39 million in September, from 67.52 million in August.

Airtel followed as its internet subscriber base increased by 593,458, from 44.20 million in August to 44.79 million in September.

Also, Globacom gained 206,391 internet subscribers in the reviewed period, raising its data users from 16.71 million in August to 16.92 million last month.

However, internet subscribers under 9mobile reduced from 2.49 million to 2.29 million – down by 206,364.

Also, the report said the industry recorded 154.6 million subscribers for telephony services in September, compared to 159.2 million in August — a 4.6 million decrease.

Out of the total industry telephony subscriber base, MTN accounted for 78.09 million in September, compared to 80.13  million subscribers reported in August — indicating a decline of 2 million.

Airtel’s voice subscribers rose by 701,676 to 53.74 million, from 53.04 million subscriber base.

However, Globacom’s telephony subscriber base declined by 2.26 million to 19.95 million in the reviewed period, compared to 21.41 million reported in August.

Similarly, 9mobile’s voice subscribers fell from 4.65 million to 3.63 million, as the company’s subscriber base dropped by 1.01 million.

The data also showed that broadband penetration declined from 43.16 percent in August to 41.56 percent in September.

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

NCC also said data usage fell to 850,249.09 terabytes in September – representing a 0.43 percent drop from the 853,954.05 terabytes recorded in August.