Nigeria’s internet subscriber base reaches 152.93m in October as broadband penetration hits 45.9%

By Charles Abuede

• Active internet data subscribers 152.48m
• Airtel, Glo go head to head for No. 2 in Nigeria after MTN, with 56.2m, 55m subscribers, respectively

The number of Nigeria’s active internet subscribers rose by 1.42 million in October 2020 to reach 152.93 million from 151.51 million recorded in September 2020, data just made available by the National Communications Commission (NCC) has revealed.

The data further shows that MTN tops the list of the most subscribed mobile network with 83.3 million subscribers, representing 40.14 per cent while Airtel follows with a total of 56.2 million, representing 27.08 per cent.

Similarly, Glo and EMTS (which operates as 9Mobile), had 55 million and 12.9 million, representing 26.53 per cent and 6.24 per cent, respectively.

As at October 2020, Nigeria boasts of a 0.50 percentage points increase to 45.93 per cent in broadband penetration from 45.43 per cent in September. This signifies that the number of subscriptions stood at 87.7 million as at the close of the month under review.

Meanwhile, the monthly porting trend in the telecommunications sector per mobile operator, whereby a mobile number is transferred from one service provider to another on the request of a subscriber who wishes to change service provider while keeping the same telephone number, stood at 19,771 in October from 19,412 in the preceding month.

Out of the total, Airtel received 6,576 new subscribers, followed by 9mobile with 6,457. MTN received a total of 6,090 new subscribers and Globacom received a total of 648.

On the other hand, a total of 19,372 subscribers left their current network to a more competitive and reliable service provider. This was higher than the number that did so in September, which was 18,990. Consequently, Airtel recorded 6,508 outgoing subscribers, Globacom had 5,954, while 9mobile and MTN recorded 3,575 and 3,335 subscribers, respectively during the month under review.

More information in the data from the telecommunication industry regulator showed that the number of active subscribers for data (internet) services on each of the licensed service providers utilizing the different technologies, i.e. GSM, stood at 152.48 million as of October 2020 from 151.06 million in the previous month.

During the month, MTN had a total of 65.02 million active internet subscribers, followed by Airtel with 40.74 million subscribers, while Globacom, an indigenously owned network service provider, boasts of 39.42 million active internet subscribers; and the Emerging Markets Telecoms Service (EMTS), popularly known as 9mobile (and the former Etisalat), saw positive growth in its internet subscribers base to 7.3 million from 7.27 million in the last month.

Meanwhile, the sum total of all active telephony subscribers and teledensity as calculated on monthly and annual basis on the number of active telephone connections per one hundred (100) inhabitants living within an area, stood at 108.94 per cent with 209.95 million during the month under review.

Also, the industry, according to the NCC, contributed 11.2 per cent to the GDP of Nigeria in real terms as at the close of third quarter of 2020.