Nigeria’s internet subscribers increased to 134m in October, say NCC

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says internet subscribers increased to 134.78 million in October 2024

The figure is higher by 1.88 million compared to the 132.9 million subscribers recorded in September 2024.

In its industry report published on Wednesday, the NCC said out of the total figure in October, mobile (GSM) accounted for 134.27 million subscribers – leaving the remaining subscribers under fixed wired and VoIP.

The NCC said all telecommunication companies recorded a significant increase in internet subscriptions — except for 9mobile — in the period under review.

In October, MTN Nigeria’s internet subscribers rose by 1.13 million to 69.52 million from 68.39 million in September.

According to the report, Airtel was next as its internet subscriber base increased by 678,219, from 44.79 million to 45.47 million.

The NCC said Globacom gained 184,887 internet subscribers in the reviewed period, raising its data users from 16.92 million in September to 17.10 million last month.

However, internet subscribers for 9mobile dropped by 125,780 — from 2.29 million to 2.16 million.

In terms of subscribers for telephony services in October, the NCC said it recorded 157.37 million, representing an increase of 2.69 million compared to 154.9 million in the previous month.

Out of the total industry telephony subscriber base, MTN accounted for 80.37 million in October, with Airtel, the second largest telco, recording 54.44 million. Next was Globacom (19.10 million) and 9mobile (3.33 million).

The NCC industry data also showed that broadband penetration increased from 41.56 percent in September 2024 to 42.24 percent in October 2024.

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 870,398.28 terabytes – up from 850,249.09 terabytes in September.

The commission said in terms of generation, 5G, 4G, and 3G usage rose by 2.33 percent, 46.27 percent and 9.40 percent, respectively.