NCC Report: Mobile Internet Users Hit 103m in May, Steady Increase Show Internet Adoption

The number of Internet users in Nigeria has significantly increased in the month of May to about 103 million active subscribers. This is a 2 million increase from the 101 million in April,  according to the latest NCC report.

Nigeria's Internet users reached 103 million subscribers as at May 2018, with @MTNNG at 39.2 million; @GloWorld with 26.6 million; @AirtelNigeria with 26.5 million; and @9mobileng with 10.8 million, according to latest data from @NgComCommission pic.twitter.com/GdaIBvCmiG

— Techloy 💙💛 (@techloy) July 4, 2018

The new data showed that there is a marginal increase of about 1.9 million (1,943,223) active new Internet subscribers on the Global System for Mobile (GSM) networks, with the largest portion of the internet subscriber share (99.70%) too.

The CDMA networks have a total of 30,309 subscribers and the Wireless networks have 10,328 subscribers to complete the number.

If this data is anything to go by, with a population of 180 million, this implies that about 55% of the Nigerian population (an average of 6 persons out of every ten) have access to the Internet.

Why this Number?

The report, GlobalWebIndex on Trends 2018, ranked Kenya behind Nigeria in having the highest number of digital consumers whose only access to the Internet is through their mobile handsets https://t.co/zDsKuLHi5g

— The Prepaid Economy. (@prepaid_africa) June 30, 2018

The increased mobile Internet appetite in Nigeria comes down to some factors. Firstly, poor Infrastructure has made fixed and wireless Internet (DSL, Cable, and Fibre) out of reach for consumers. And since there is access to better, cheaper smartphones, more Nigerians have turned to connect the Internet via their mobile phones as the number of Internet subscribers increases.

Also, with the evolution of lite mobile apps that require less data, consumers find this cost prohibitive and use the Internet often.

There’s Still More to be Done!

https://twitter.com/Rouvafe/status/954969364863873024

Since there’s a situation of poor infrastructure, there would be a need for the licensing of more Infrastructure Company (INFRACOs) to lay the foundation for Internet penetration and increase broadband services.

And according to reports, the NCC is waiting to approve 3 additional Infracos to boost broadband penetration in the country. Should this be done, there Nigerians would embrace the Internet and it would speed up the country’s progress towards achieving its broadband target of 30 per cent penetration by the end of 2018.