Nigeria Maintains Steady Growth in Teledensity, Mobile Internet Subscription
Nigerian telecoms subscribers maintained a steady growth in teledensity and mobile internet subscription in the last half of 2017, according to statistics released and obtained from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the telecoms industry regulator.
The statistics, obtained from NCC’s website, showed that both teledensity and the number of mobile internet subscription, grew from July to December 2017, bringing the total number of subscriber teledensity to 103.61 per cent, as at December 2017, up from 79.39 per cent in July 2017. The number of mobile internet subscription also rose from 91.4 million in July 2017 to 98. 4 million in December 2017. In technical parlance, teledensity is the number of active telephone connections per one hundred inhabitants living within an area and is expressed as a percentage figure.
The NCC’s statistics revealed the sum total of all active telephony subscribers and teledensity as calculated on monthly and annual basis.
Mobile internet subscription is best described as the active online presence of subscribers, connected to the internet though mobile devices, like mobile phones and tablets.
Teledensity and mobile internet subscription assumed new growth in the last six months in 2017, after a deep in the first six months in 2017, which was largely attributed to the effect of recession that Nigeria had during 2016 and in early part of 2017.
According to the statistics, in July last year, the total number of telecoms subscribers across networks was 139.1 million, with a teledensity of 79.39 per cent. In August, number of subscribers rose slightly to 139.4 million, with a slight increase in teledensity of 99.6 per cent. In September, subscriber number rose to 139.9 million, with teledensity of 99.9 per cent. In October, subscriber number also increased to 140.7 million, with increase in teledensity of 100.5 per cent. In November, subscriber number surpassed that of October figure, to reach 142.3 million, with increased teledensity of 101.66 per cent, while in December, the number of subscribers also increased to 145.1 million, with increased teledensity of 103.6 per cent.
The statistics shows that telecoms subscribers number