The Internet speed in Nigeria slowed down in February after attaining a peak speed in January this year.
Also, mobile Internet connections reduced by 2.98 million between December last year and January this year, according to data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
In February 2021, the average mobile Internet download speed was 17.89 megabits per second down from 18.63 mbps in January, the latest data from the Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index showed.
Also, the data showed that Nigeria ranked 111th in mobile Internet download speed as of February 2021, up one place from its 112th position in January.
The index, which compares Internet speed data from around the world on a monthly basis, stated that the global average for mobile Internet download speed for the 141 countries examined in February was 46.94mbps while 12.49mbps was the global average upload speed attained.
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The report indicated that Nigeria’s average mobile Internet download speed in January was the highest in one year while the lowest Internet speed at 15.13mbps was recorded in April last year.
In the fixed broadband category, Nigeria recorded 14.54 mbps average download speed and 13.98 mbps upload speed in February this year.
The global average for fixed broadband download speed for the 175 countries examined was 97.52mbps while it recorded 51.79mbps for the upload speed.
The index showed that the country’s maintained the 142th ranking for fixed broadband download speed since December 2020 to February.
As per the February Speedtest Global Index, United Arab Emirate clinched the top position in the mobile broadband category globally with an average download speed of 177.16mbps while Qatar came second with 171.15mbps.
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Singapore ranked highest for fixed broadband with a 283.59mbps average download speed.
The NCC data indicated that the number of active subscribers to Internet services in the country reduced to 150.9 million in January 2021.
This is an indication that the country lost 2.98 new Internet users between December 2020 and January 2021.
This may be linked to the suspension of new SIM registration and retrieval of lost SIM cards as directed by the Minister of Communications and Digital economy, Dr Isa Patanmi, in December last year.
Meanwhile, a study conducted by Ookla and World Bank to examined the impact of the pandemic lockdown measure on Internet speed found that on the average, there was low mobile and fixed internet speeds in Nigeria and other 17 African countries surveyed.
Findings showed that speed was below 10 Mbps, considered the lower bound for a good quality broadband service, even before the onset of the pandemic.
It was gathered that mobile internet generally provides faster service than fixed network in the African countries examined in contrast to might be expected in OECD countries.
