Nigeria’s web customers dipped by 7.99 p.c to 141.9 million — as telecoms operators misplaced 12.3 million information subscribers in 2021.
The Nationwide Bureau of Statistics (NBS) stated this in its telecoms information launched on Monday.
Restrictions on gross sales of SIM playing cards stifled the telecoms sector in 2021 — coupled with the continued Nationwide Identification Quantity and SIM registration train.
In 2020, the federal authorities directed the Nigerian Communications Fee (NCC) to audit the subscriber registration database.
The directive instructed cell community operators to droop the sale, registration and activation of latest SIM playing cards.
The controversial coverage denied new entrants into the nation entry to buy cell traces whereas current customers who need to retrieve their misplaced traces weren’t allowed entry.
In accordance with NBS, a complete of 141,971,560 subscribers had been lively on the web within the fourth quarter of 2021, as towards 154,301,195 in the identical interval of 2020, representing a 7.99 p.c lower in web subscriptions year-on-year.
“In This autumn 2021, a complete of 195,463,898 subscribers had been lively on voice as towards 204,601,313 in This autumn 2020. This represents a 4.47 p.c lower in voice subscriptions Yr-on-Yr. Quarter-on-Quarter development was 2.42 p.c,” the report reads.
“A complete of 141,971,560 subscribers had been lively on the web as towards 154,301,195 in This autumn 2020. This represents a 7.99 p.c lower in web subscriptions Yr-on-Yr.
“Lagos State had the very best variety of subscribers by way of lively voice per state in This autumn 2021, adopted by Kano State and Ogun State, whereas Bayelsa and Ebonyi states had the least variety of subscribers. Nevertheless, MTN had the very best share of subscriptions in Q2, Q3, and This autumn 2021.”