Telecom subscribers spent N2.4trn on internet data in 2017

Telecoms subscribers in Nigeria spent over N2.346trn on internet data last year, analysis of mobile users’ average data usage per month has shown.

The big four GSM operators --MTN, Glo, Airtel and 9mobile --- and other smaller mobile operators had a total average active subscribers base of about 151.5million in 2017.

On the average, MTN had 52, 121,427 users, and Glo had 32, 270, 100 customers, and Airtel had 30,336, 802 customers while 9mobile 17,621, 806 users during the year. The remaining figures were shared between the rest smaller operators.

But averagely, only 91m subscribers were active internet users, and they depended on data provided by the telcos to access the world- wide-web and hook on to the social media, information on the NCC’s website show.

MTN had 33.7m internet users, Glo had 29.2m, Airtel had 21.2m while 9mobile had 12.6m, and the smaller other operators shared the remaining figures.

Findings by Daily Trust from the four GSM operators revealed conservative estimates of category of data users and how much they spent on data monthly.

About 70% of internet users or 64m use up to N1000 data monthly each, increasing the operators’ revenue base by N64bn.

Also, about 15 % or 13.8m users, mostly small business owners and middle class people, each purchase an average of N3000 data monthly, contributing N41.1bn every month to the telcos’ coffer.

Similarly, 10 % of the internet subscribers or 9.15m use N5000 each every month, growing the operators’ revenue safe by N45.6bn.