Nigeria’s internet users soared to 154.8 million in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2022, the country’s statistics office has said.
The total number of active internet subscribers in Q4 2022, stood at 154,847,901 — up from 141,971,560 reported in Q4 2021.
This is according to latest telecoms data report released on Friday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The bureau said 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 added.
The report also said the total number of active voice subscribers in Q4 2022, rose to “222,571,568 from the 195,463,898 reported in Q4 2021”.
This indicates a growth rate of 13.87 percent.
But on a quarter-on-quarter basis, voice subscribers grew by 4.89 percent, NBS 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,” the bureau said.
“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.”
NBS, however, 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 Globacom (43 million), Airtel, (41 million), and 9mobile (4.4 million).
On active voice subscriptions, MTN also led with 89 million subscribers.
While 9mobile had about 12 million active voice subscribers, Globacom and Airtel both recorded 60 million voice users.
The total number of internet subscribers declined by 7.99 percent to 141.9 million in 2021.
The dip has been linked 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.