Nigeria Records 140m Phone Subscriptions In Third Quarter

Nigeria recorded a total of 140 million active voice subscriptions and 93.26 million active Internet subscriptions in the third quarter of 2017.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said this in a report on “Telecoms Data: Active Voice and Internet per State, Porting and Tariff Information for the Third Quarter of 2017’’ posted on its website.

The bureau said that total active voice subscriptions fell by 8.73 per cent from third quarter 2016, and by 2.21 per cent from second quarter of 2017.

It, however, stated that total active internet subscriptions increased by 1.22 per cent from third quarter 2016 and declined by 0.55 per cent from second quarter, 2017.

According to the report, both voice and internet communication subscriptions in third quarter, 2017 were dominated by GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications).

Meanwhile, the report stated that the four largest voice communication providers in the third quarter were Airtel Nigeria, 9mobile, Globacom Limited and MTN Nigeria Communications.

According to the report, the providers’ contributions are 24.75 per cent, 12.30 per cent, 27.70 per cent and 35.96 per cent of the total telecom communication subscriptions respectively.

It said that the top four specialised in GSM, while Globacom Limited also hold 0.01 per cent of the total active voice subscriptions in the form of Fixed/Fixed Wireless Telecommunication.

By the end of the third quarter, the report indicated that Southwestern and North central states recorded higher than average number of voice and internet subscriptions than other states in the country.

By the end of the third quarter, the report stated that Southern and Southwestern states recorded the highest active voice subscriptions.

It said that Lagos, Ogun and Oyo, the top three states recorded altogether 26.10 per cent of the total voice subscription of the country.

The report said that Lagos led in telecommunication usage with 20.39 million active voice subscriptions and 20.12 million GSM users by the end of the third quarter, equaling to 14.58 per cent of the total nationwide subscriptions.

It stated that FCT, Kano and Kaduna established another cluster of heavy voice subscription, each of which reported more than six million active voice subscriptions in the quarter under review.

In addition, the report said that most states recorded negative growths in active voice subscriptions in the third quarter on both year-to-year and quarter to quarter basis.

It stated that FCT, Edo, Adamawa, Ondo, Lagos and Oyo were the only states which recorded positive year-on-year growths in active voice subscriptions in the quarter under review.

VON