Telecoms subscribers rose to 172.8 million –NBS

The number of active voice subscribers in the telecoms sector rose to 172.82 million as of the end of the fourth quarter of 2018, the data obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics revealed.

The 172.82 million telecoms subscribers, according to the NBS, represent an increase of about 10.79 million when compared to the 162.03 million recorded in the third quarter of last year.

Similarly, the NBS put the total number of active Internet subscribers at 112,065,740 in the fourth quarter of last year as against 106,420,858 subscribers in the third quarter.

It stated, “Telecoms data for Q3 and Q4 2018 reflected that a total of 172,824,239 and 162,032,481 subscribers were active on voice as against 162,522,772 in Q2 2018 which represented 6.66 per cent increase in subscribers base.

“Similarly, a total of 112,065,740 and 106,420,858 subscribers were active on Internet as against 103,514,997 in Q2 2018, which represented 8.26 per cent growth in subscribers base.”

The NBS report stated that Lagos State had the highest number of subscribers in terms of active voice per state in the fourth quarter of 2018.

This is closely followed by Ogun and Kano states respectively.

On the other hand, the NBS report stated that Bayelsa and Ebonyi states had the least number of subscribers.

Similarly, the report stated that Lagos State had the highest number of subscribers in terms of active Internet per state in the fourth quarter of 2018 and closely followed by Ogun and Kano states respectively while Bayelsa and Ebonyi states had the least number of subscribers.

It added that MTN had the highest share of voice subscription and followed by Glo and Airtel respectively.

In terms of Internet subscription, the report showed that MTN had the highest share of Internet subscription followed by GLO and Airtel, among others.