Nigerians are spending more time online, even though fewer people are renewing their internet subscriptions, according to the latest figures from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
The NCC reports that active subscriptions for internet across mobile, fixed, and VOIP networks dropped slightly to 141.1 million this June, down 0.3% compared to May’s 141.5 million. The four biggest mobile network operators, MTN, Airtel, Globacom, and T2 (9mobile), still hold the lion’s share of the market with a combined 140.6 million subscriptions. Meanwhile, standalone internet service providers (ISPs) and other smaller players remain on the sidelines with just 528,633 users.
Yet, even as subscriptions dipped, Nigerians’ appetite for data grew. Subscribers chewed through 1.044 million terabytes of data in June, just above May’s 1.043 million terabytes, marking one of the highest usage months since the NCC began recording this data in January 2023.
At a recent media roundtable, telecom CEO Dinesh Balsingh said cities like Lagos are driving a data explosion, as more people and businesses go online with more devices.
Cities like Lagos are growing at lightning speed, more people, more businesses, more devices – Balsingh
Mobile subscriptions also took a hit in June, slipping to 171.5 million from May’s 172.4 million. MTN, the sector heavyweight, saw its subscriber numbers fall by 1 million to 89.2 million, but still controls over half of Nigeria’s mobile market. 9mobile lost nearly a quarter million users, dropping to 2.4 million, despite a recent deal to piggyback on MTN’s network infrastructure.
Not all networks shrank, though. Airtel gained 36,316 new subscriptions, hitting 58.9 million. Globacom had the biggest boost, adding 263,028 subscriptions to reach a total of 20.8 million.
The shifting numbers pushed Nigeria’s teledensity down to 79.22%, meaning fewer active phone connections per 100 inhabitants, compared to May’s 79.65%.
