The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has stated that the country’s internet subscribers fell by 9.6 percent. marking 14.5 million in one year.
This was stated by the NCC in its latest update of industry statistics posted on its website.
The data shows that the total number of active internet subscribers, which reached 154.88 million — an all-time high — in November 2020, slumped to 140.34 million at the end of October 2021.
The Federal Government had in December 2020,ordered the telecommunications companies to suspend the sales and reactivation of new SIM cards.
The policy did not allowed new entrants into the country access to obtain mobile lines while existing users who planned to retrieve their lost lines could not do so as a result of the Federal Government’s directive.
The government based its decision on the decision to carry out an audit of the subscriber registration database in the country at the height of security challenges – banditry and kidnapping.
The effect of this directive was felt as shown by the end of the first quarter of 2021 performance of the sector, the policy had stifled the telecoms industry with single-digit growth.
Airtel Africa and MTN Nigeria, the two listed telcos, had said the regulatory restrictions impacted their operations with declines in mobile subscriptions and revenue.
The government, however, lifted the ban in April but mandated the use of national identification numbers (NINs) for the issuance of new SIM cards.
MTN Nigeria recorded the highest decline in internet subscribers from 65.76 million in November 2020 to N58.32 million in October 2021, representing a 7.45 million dip.
Internet subscribers of Airtel Nigeria dropped from 41.52 million in November last year to 36.89 million in October 2021 — shedding 4.6 million subscribers.
Globacom’s internet subscribers slumped from 39,91 million to 38.97 million, also, 9mobile declined from 5.90 million to 5,80 million in the same period under review.
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