Active subscriptions for the internet across mobile, fixed and VOIP networks in Nigeria rose to 162 million in November 2023.
This was revealed by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), in the latest telecom industry data just released.
The November internet subscription figure represents a 0.6% increase when compared with the 161.1 million recorded in October.
The NCC’s data reveals that the mobile network operators MTN, Airtel, Globacom, and 9mobile maintained their dominance of the internet market with 161.5 million internet subscriptions as of November. This represents 99.6% of the total subscriptions.
VOIP operators, which include Smile Communications and Ntel accounted for 354,909 internet subscriptions as of November, while other internet service providers (ISPs) accounted for 208,612 internet subscriptions.
5G subscriptions still very low
Despite the growth in internet subscriptions, the number of Nigerians on 5G, which offers the fastest internet speed is still very low. According to the NCC data, 5G subscriptions in the country stood at 0.96% as of November 2023.
- “The data shows that despite the operators’ investments in expanding higher technologies, 4G and 5G, 59.32% of Nigerian subscribers were still on 2G networks. This, however, showed that some Nigerians are gradually moving out of the old technology as 60.47% of subscribers were on 2G as of August last year.
- “The telecom industry statistics further show that 9.81% of Nigerian subscribers were on 3G connection, a higher generation of network launched in Nigeria in 2007. 3G ushered in the use of video calls and had significantly higher data transfer, operating at a speed of up to 2mbs, and increased bandwidth compared to the 2G network.
- “According to the Commission, subscriptions for 4G, which the operators started rolling out in 2016 still stood at 29.91% as of November 2023.”
What you should know
Globally, the expansion of 5G has pushed internet service providers like AT&T and T-Mobile to shut down 3G service earlier in 2022, and most recently, Verizon and Vodafone have notified customers that they intend to cut off 3G-enabled devices from their networks from December 2022 and December 2023 respectively.
3G is the third generation of wireless mobile telecommunications technology which was first rolled out commercially in mid-2001 and was an upgrade over the 2G, 2.5G, GPRS, and 2.75G networks. At the moment, it has been succeeded by the launch of 4G, 5G, and most recently, a test run of 6G in China which is a super upgrade to the service.
