BY BAMIDELE FAMOOFO
The telecoms industry in Nigeria has continued to grow in leaps and bounds as figures made available by the National Bureau of Statistics for first quarter 2022 showed that more than seven million Nigerians registered as new customers with service providers in the industry.
Specifically in the first quarter of 2022, a total of 199,558,540 active voice subscribers were recorded compared to 192,413,613 in Q1 2021. This represents a 3.71 percent rise in voice subscriptions Year-on-Year. On a Quarter-on-Quarter in Q1 2022 compared to 144,949,194 in Q1 2021. This represents a 0.62 percent increase in active internet subscriptions Year-on-Year.
On state analysis, Lagos had the highest number of active voice subscribers in Q1 2022 with 24,226,878, followed by Kano with 11,666,630 and Ogun with 11,537,006, while Bayelsa had the least with 1,445,123, followed by Ekiti with 1,786,160.
Lagos State stood top for active internet subscriptions recorded at 17,839,569, followed by Ogun with 8,538,812 and Kano with 8,364,587. On the other hand, Bayelsa had the least with 1,043,059, followed by Ebonyi and Ekiti with 1,230,081 and 1,373,888 respectively.
However, MTN had the highest share of subscriptions in Q1 2022, moving from about 60.71 million in first quarter 2021 to about 75.18 million subscribers in the same period in 2022. Indigenous service provider Globacom (Glo) increased its active subscribers from 39.57 million in Q1 2021 to about 55.88 million in the review period. Airtel followed with about 55.37 million from about 39.37 million active subscribers registered on its network in Q1 2021.
Another active player in the industry is EMTS (9 Mobile). It recorded a significant increase in active subscribers in the review period from about 5.55 million in Q1 2021 to about 12.77 million in Q1 2022.
