Nigerians consume N2.59tr airtime and data in M9 2023
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Despite biting economic hardship, Nigerians spent N2.59 trillion on airtime and data in the first nine months of the year, January to September (M9 2023), as disclosed in the financial statements of two of the major network carriers, MTN and Airtel.
The amount represents a 32.57 per cent rise above N1.95 trillion both telecom firms made from airtime and data in M9 2022.
Increase in voice and data venue in M9 2023 was partly driven by rising data subscriptions and devaluation of naira as pertains to Airtel.
MTN
Data revenue for MTN continues to fuel its overall revenue growth. Its data revenue grew 36.36 per cent year-on-year (YoY) but voice revenue rose 10.64 per cent.
“Data revenue grew by 36.4 per cent on increased usage and data conversion in new and existing base,” MTN explained in its financial results.
“Data usage (GB per user) grew by 29.1 per cent to 8.6GB, and the number of smartphones on our network increased by 7.6 per cent, bringing smartphone penetration to 53.4 per cent, up 1.4pp YoY.
“Consequently, we recorded a 46.3 per cent growth in data traffic, with the 4G network accounting for 83.7 per cent of the total traffic (up 5.2pp YoY).”
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Airtel
Airtel garnered $1.41 revenue from voice and data in M9 2022, an amount – which, when converted at the exchange rate of N461/$ at the time – amounted to N647.71 billion, per reporting by The PUNCH.
In M9 2023, its income from the two channels amounted to $1.29 billion but – when converted at the exchange rate of N777/$ at the time – translated to N1.003 trillion.
Airtel said: “Data revenue grew by 29.3 per cent in constant currency, driven by data customer base growth of 17.4 per cent and data ARPU growth of 12.3 per cent.
“Data usage per customer increased by 23.8 per cent to 5.9 GB per month (from 4.8 GB in the prior period). Our continued 4G network rollout has resulted in nearly 100 per cent of all our sites delivering 4G services.”
Overview
Increased internet usage based on rise in video streaming pushed the amount consumers spent on telecom services to N3.86 trillion in 2022, an 18.74 per cent increase from N3.25 trillion in 2021.
Data usage surged 46.77 per cent from 353,118.89TB in 2021 to 518,381.78TB in 2022.
Data consumption is predicted to be the next frontier for telecom’s growth and is expected to continue to surge, with analysts anticipating data to outpace voice revenue in the coming years.
The World Bank recently disclosed increase in the consumption of data services by households and businesses and higher subscriber numbers are responsible for growth in information communication technology (ICT).
“Sub-Saharan Africa is forecast to be the region with the highest growth in total mobile data traffic, rising by 37 per cent annually between 2022 and 2028 as service providers across the continent continue to invest in 4G networks and migrate customers from 2G and 3G,” Ericsson Mobility Report (June 2023) said.
“This increase in data traffic will primarily be driven by a four times increase in smartphone traffic in the period, with average data per active smartphone settling at 19 GB per month in 2028.”
National Association of Telecoms Subscribers President Adeolu Ogunbanjo noted that “2021 led to a blast in online activity. Working from home, an increase in online economic and commercial transactions which were all on telecoms infrastructure.
“This growth was meant to be. 2021 propelled the uptake in online activities as people had to use their devices online.”