. Up by 9.7% in Q4 2022
National Bureau of Statistics says Nigeria’s internet users increased to 154.8million in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2022.
The Bureau, in its latest telecoms data report released on Friday, put the total number of active internet subscribers in Q4 2022 at 154,847,901 — up from 141,971,560 reported in Q4 2021.
It stated that the upward movement marked a 9.07 percent growth in internet subscribers for the sector in the period reviewed.
“On a quarter-on-quarter basis, this grew by 1.35 percent,” NBS stated.
The report added that the total number of active voice subscribers in Q4 2022, rose to “222,571,568 from the 195,463,898 reported in Q4 2021”.
According to the NBS, this indicates a growth rate of 13.87 percent.
It, however, added that on a quarter-on-quarter basis, voice subscribers grew by 4.89 percent.
The Bureau said, “On state profile analysis, Lagos State had the highest number of active voice subscribers in Q4 2022 with 26,460,867, followed by Ogun with 12,994,352; and Kano with 12,373,201. On the other hand, Bayelsa recorded the least with 1,571,692, followed by Ebonyi and Ekiti with 1,920,996 and 2,001,846, respectively.
“In addition, Lagos had the highest number of active internet subscribers in Q4 2022 with 18,702,394, followed by Ogun with 9,206,614; and Kano with 8,470,131. On the other hand, Bayelsa recorded the least with 1,101,002, followed by Ebonyi and Ekiti with 1,264,825 and 1,474,970, respectively.”
But the NBS noted that MTN Nigeria had the highest share of subscriptions in Q4 2022.
The report shows that MTN Nigeria recorded 65 million internet subscribers in the quarter examined; followed by Globacom (43 million), Airtel, (41 million), and 9mobile (4.4 million).
MTN also led on active voice subscriptions with 89 million subscribers.
While 9mobile had about 12 million active voice subscribers, Globacom and Airtel both recorded 60 million voice users.
In 2021, the total number of internet subscribers declined by 7.99 percent to 141.9 million.
The decline has been attributed to restrictions on sales of SIM cards which stifled the telecoms sector in 2021 — coupled with the ongoing National Identification Number (NIN) and SIM integration exercise.