This is an increase from 184 million subscribers from the previous year.
The active users of telecommunications services in the country stood at 199 million, as of July 2020, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said.
The new figure is an increase from 184 million subscribers, about 15 million, from the previous year.
This, NCC said, represented about 7.5 per cent increase in total subscription within the period under review.
NCC also noted an increase in the access to communication services across the country.
“The country’s teledensity, which measures the number of active telephone connections per 100 inhabitants living within an area, also increased to 104.41 per cent compared to 96.76 per cent in December 2019.”
Similarly, in its 2019 report for the Nigerian telecommunication industry, NCC highlighted a 72 million subscription increase in broadband penetration, which is equivalent to 37.8 per cent.
This figure has since increased, and now stands at 43.3 per cent as of August 2020.
Broadband is a term synonymous with a high-speed connection to the internet.
‘New oil’
The Information and communications technology (ICT) sector has contributed steadily to the growth Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).Depending on data from the Central Bank of Nigeria, the NCC noted, “Capital Inflow (Foreign Direct Investment) into the Nigerian Telecoms Industry was approximately (USD 942, 863,833.96 million) as at Year 2019.
“However CAPEX expenditure (domestic investment) was collated as (N494, 727,430,655.93) based on submissions from responsive Licensees,” it added
The Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, said in the preceding quarter, that Nigeria’s economy entered a negative growth, seeing its biggest decline in at least a decade. Howbeit, the ICT sector contributed 17.83 per cent to the Nigerian Gross Domestic Product.
“Out of total real GDP, the sector contributed 17.83 per cent in the 2020 second quarter, higher than in the same quarter of the previous year in which it represented 14.55 per cent and the preceding quarter, in which it represented 14.07 per cent,” the NBS said.
Within the period under review, MTN had the highest voice subscriptions with 80.3 million subscribers, representing 40 per cent.
Airtel came a distant second with 53.7 million and Globacom is third with 52.7 million. 9mobile has 12.6 million subscribers.
