Internet subscription up in Q4 2021
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
National internet subscriber numbers grew to 154.3 million in the fourth quarter of the year ended December 2021 (Q4 2021), up 14.03 million above 140.28 million in Q3. Lagos tops all states with 18.94 million or 12.3 per cent of the total.
Latest statistics churned out by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show that internet subscriber base rose 10 per cent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) with MTN on the leaderboard followed by Globacom.
The network figures are:
- MTN – 58.8 million
- Globacom – 39.53 million
- Airtel – 37.53 million
- 9mobile – 5.75 million
- SMILE – 314,674
- NITEL – 27,799
The two most populated states, Lagos and Kano, alongside Ogun made up the top list with the highest internet subscribers with a combined 37.61 million in Q4 2021.
All the 36 states including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) recorded growth in in Q4 compared with Q3.
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Top states
Lagos – 18.94 million. Gained 1.44 million on top of 17.71 million in Q3. MTN has the most internet subscribers in Lagos (6.27 million), followed by Airtel (4.98 million), and Globacom (4.85 million), according to reporting by Nairametrics.
- Kano – 9.59 million (6.2 per cent)
- Ogun – 9.1 million
- Oyo – 8.05 million
- Zamfara – 2.14 million
Biggest gainers
- Lagos – 1.44 million
- Kano – 1.43 million
- Katsina – 728,131
- Zamfara – 706,367
- Bayelsa – 77,523
- Ebonyi – 101,994
Financial terms
- MTN grew data revenue 55.3 per cent to N516.2 billion
- Airtel grew data revenue 41.2 per cent to N283.5 billion
Internet use costs Nigerians N100.3b in one year
Nigerians spent N100.3 billion accessing the internet in 2020, based on the average cost of 1GB of data set at N487.18 by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), in a year subscribers consumed 205,880.4 terabytes worth of data.
This sum is different from actual naira spent on transactions.
A report by the NCC shows that data usage increased from 123,648 terabytes in 2019 to 205,880.4 terabytes in 2020, a 66.5 per cent jump. Broadband penetration rose 45.93 per cent.
Revenue generated by telecom operators notched 12.33 per cent from N2.02 trillion in 2019 to N2.27 trillion in 2020. Internet service providers (ISPs) generated N68.96 billion in revenues, up 28.31 per cent on N53.75 billion in 2019.
