The Nigerian Communications Commission’s (NCC) recent statistics on the industry have revealed that subscribers are more attuned to the services offered by the likes of MTN, Airtel, Globacom, and 9mobile, and also ntel, for their internet connectivity, via their mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.
The statistics, which are available on the official website of NCC, show that for 10 months, from January 2024 to October 2024, internet subscriptions via mobile GSM technology were the most patronized technology by Nigerians.
Other services provided by the industry include the Wired and Wireless technologies offered by licensed Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology and Fixed Wired technology.
But why is this so? An industry operator provides and insight. Speaking about the dominance of mobile GSM technology in internet penetration, the Chairman, Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo, said although ISPs were initially licensed as core internet service providers, the GSM operators, with better technology in terms of speed and cost of deployment, were also registered to offer mobile internet service. He further said because the GSM technology is faster and cheaper to deploy, and based on the large coverage areas, the GSM operators were able to deploy internet service much faster and cheaper than the ISPs.
“It’s about technology evolution. The GSM technology is more advanced and easy to deploy than the Wired and Wireless technologies and the Fixed Wired technology, and that is the advantage that GSM operators have over ISPs,” Adebayo further said
Between January 2024 and October 2024, mobile GSM technology sustained its leading position in internet connectivity and penetration in Nigeria. This is evident in the fact that the total number of active internet subscriptions in Nigeria via mobile GSM technology as at January 2024, was 161,504,390, and the figure increased to 162,808,826 in February 2024, with another increase to 163,895,185 and 164,023,607 in March and April 2024 respectively.
Unfortunately, it was a different scenario between May and August 2024 as the figures dropped in May, June, July and August, to 136,561,704; 135,942,275; 134,435,733; and 130,946,321 respectively.
The progressive trend however picked up again from the month of September 2024 as the internet penetration figure picked up again to reach 132,406,212, and stepped up to 134,279,501 in October 2024.
The total number of active internet subscriptions in Nigeria via the Wired and Wireless technologies, offered by ISPs, in January, February and March 2024 did not change from the same figure of 213,876, however, the figure increased in April 2024 to 262,206, with further increase in May to 285,702, and maintained same figure in June, July, August, September and October 2024.
VoIP internet connectivity keeps oscillating up and down as the figure was 238,180, as at January 2024, but the figure dropped in February 2024 to 236,212, before increasing again to 238,139 in March, with a further increase in April and May 2024 to 248,504 and 265,183 respectively. The figure however dropped in June 2024 to 262,126, with a further drop in July and August 2024 to 259,734 and 199,960respectively. The internet penetration figure however increased in September and October 2024 to 205,634 and 212,071 respectively.
From the statistics, as at October 2024, the total number of active internet subscriptions across all connecting technologies in Nigeria, was put at 134,787,935, while the number of those connected to the internet via mobile GSM technology alone, using smartphones and tablets, was put at 134,279,501, followed by Wired and Wireless technologies, offered by ISPs, which was put at 285,702. The VoIP technology for internet connectivity was next, with 212,071 internet subscriptions, as of October 2024. The least of the technologies is the Fixed Wired technology, which has 10, 661 internet subscriptions as of October 2024.
Another technology that was initially used for internet connectivity in the past was Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology, which became obsolete in Nigeria immediately after the Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) technology was introduced in 2001.
