In Nigeria, there are now 159.5 million active internet subscriptions across fixed, mobile, and VOIP networks.
According to the Nigerian Communications Commission’s most recent industry figures, this is an 8.6% increase over the 158.2 million recorded in April.
With 159 million subscriptions, the mobile network providers MTN, Airtel, Globacom, and 9mobile continued to dominate the internet industry.
In comparison to other internet service providers, VOIP operators, which include Smile Communications and Ntel, accounted for 335,121 internet subscriptions as of May.
However, NCC states that the ISPs’ connection number is as of December 2022.
Broadband subscriptions, often known as high-speed internet services, increased in May to 92.2 million from the 91.8 million recorded in April, reversing a two-month trend of persistent decline.
The country’s broadband penetration increased to 48.28% from 48.14% in April as a result.
The federal government aims to achieve a 70% broadband penetration rate by 2025 through the execution of the NNBP 2020-2025.
In order to achieve this, the NCC’s Executive Vice Chairman, Prof. Umar Danbatta, recently stated that the Commission would act as an industry leader to raise the country’s broadband penetration to well above 50% by the end of this year.
He said that the commission will also see to it that, in accordance with the National Broadband Policy, Nigeria achieves 90% broadband coverage and 70% penetration by 2025.
According to a World Bank analysis, a country’s GDP will increase by at least 4.6% for every 10% increase in broadband penetration.
Therefore, it is anticipated that the quick adoption of broadband services in Nigeria will help the nation handle a number of socioeconomic issues, such as the need to boost its economy, broaden its tax base, and raise educational and digital literacy levels.
Due to the government’s stance on SIM cards, subscriptions have decreased consistently for some period for months during the country’s execution of its broadband plan, which began in 2020.
Broadband penetration in Nigeria fell to 39.79% in July 2021 from a peak of 45.93% in October 2020.
The service providers lost a total of 9.9 million broadband customers between November 2020 and October 2021.
