The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has stated that the country’s internet subscribers dropped by 24.5 million in 2024.
According to the commission, even though there was a rise of 139.28 million by December 2024, there was a drop of 15 per cent, compared to the 163.83 million recorded in December 2023.
In its latest industry statistics published on Monday, the commission said out of the figure, mobile (GSM) accounted for 138.77 million subscribers — leaving the remaining subscribers under fixed wired and VoIP.
The data showed that all telecommunication companies, except 9mobile, recorded an increase in internet subscriptions in the period under review.
The NCC said the number of MTN Nigeria’s internet subscribers rose by 1.61 million to 72.22 million in December — up from 70.60 million in November 2024.
On a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis, the internet subscribers of the South African telecoms giant grew by 1.56 million, relative to the 70.65 recorded in December 2023.
The telecoms regulator further said Airtel gained 1.24 million subscribers, from 46.17 million in November to 47.41 million in December. This marked an increase of 2.34 million compared to the 45 million recorded in December 2023.
Globacom internet subscribers, on the other hand, moved from 17.19 million in November 2024 to 17 million in December — down by 117,711.
The commission said Globacom’s subscribers dropped by 26.92 million when compared with the 43.99 million recorded in December 2023.
However, the number of 9mobile subscribers (2.06 million) remained unchanged between November and December 2024. In a year, the telco lost 1.56 million subscribers relative to 3.63 million in December 2023.
The data further showed that there were 164.9 million subscribers for telephony services in December 2024, showing an increase of 5 million from 159.8 million recorded in November, but a drop of 59.7 million when compared with the 224.7 million recorded in December 2023.
Out of the total value of 164 million subscribers, MTN is said to have recorded 84.6 million active telephony subscribers, Airtel accounted for 56.61 million, Globacom got 20.13 million while 9mobile remained at 3.23 million.
The NCC further noted that broadband penetration increased from 43.16 per cent in November 2024 to 44.43 per cent in December.
The telecoms regulator also said data usage climbed to 973,455.35 terabytes in the period under review — up by 260,254.75 from the 713,200.6 terabytes recorded in December 2023.
The commission said in terms of generation, 5G and 4G recorded 2.46 per cent and 47.2 per cent usage respectively; while 3G was 8.75 per cent in December 2024.
