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Internet:Telecom subscribers hit 56 million

By BusinessNews Staff on December 16, 2013

The Internet subscriber data on the Global System for Mobile Telecommunication and Code Division Multiple Access platforms is now 56,247,979.

This shows an increase of 5,667,268 from the previous figure of 50,580,711 provided by the Nigerian Communications Commission.

The NCC puts GSM Internet subscription at over 56 million, while that of the CDMA is 169,149.

For the GSM networks, MTN led with 28 million subscriptions, followed by Globacom, Airtel and Etisalat with over 12 million, nine million and five million subscribers, respectively.

For the CDMA networks, Visafone led with 138,172 subscriptions, while Starcomms and Multilinks had 19,996 and 12,415 subscriptions, respectively,

For the period before now, the NCC placed Internet subscription on the GSM networks at 50.4 million, while that of the CDMA networks was put at 168,152.

The data, which covered up till July this year, had MTN dominating Internet subscription among the GSM players with 25.9 million. This was followed by Globacom, Airtel and Etisalat with 9.88 million, 9.25 million and 5.35 million, respectively.

Visafone dominated the CDMA Internet market with 130,257 subscribers; while Starcomms and Multilinks followed with 21,682 and 16,213, respectively.

As of July last year, the aggregate Internet subscription for the GSM and CDMA networks was put at 26.6 million. The GSM networks had 26.3 million of this figure, while the CDMA networks had 239,984.

Nigeria’s active telephone lines also rose from 112 million in August this year to 121.2 million at the end of September.

The increase in mobile subscription was contributed mainly by the GSM companies – MTN, Globacom, Airtel and Etisalat.

For voice services, the CDMA networks, including Visafone, Starcomms and Multi-Links, as well as the fixed wired/wireless network witnessed sharp declines.

The fixed line networks also recorded declines as they had 405,625 active lines in the first quarter; 382,678 lines in second quarter; and 362,392 at the end of September.

The industry’s teledensity, which was put at 80.47 as of August this year, rose to 86.62 in September. This is the percentage of the number of phone users per population at a given period of time.

Recently, Nigeria joined the Alliance for Affordable Internet, an organisation that aims to make the Internet more affordable in developing countries where the cost of access remains a barrier for majority of the populace.

This, according to experts, has the capacity to further boost the level of Internet subscription in the country.

The alliance, which was inaugurated in Nigeria at the 2013 Annual Conference of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation, aims to bring down the cost of Internet access so that two-thirds of the world’s population can also enjoy broadband Internet.

The Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, represents Nigeria in the alliance, which has global technology companies such as Cisco, Microsoft, Google, Alcatel and Intel as members.

Countries that have signed up for membership of the alliance include the United Kingdom, United States, Sweden and Kenya.

Currently, broadband Internet takes as much as 30 per cent of a household’s income in some African countries. The alliance aims to bring down the average cost of access to five per cent of households’ monthly income.

[Punch]

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