Telecoms subscribers now 154.5m – NCC

Active users of telecommunications services in the country increased to 154,529,780 in December 2016, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said.

The telecommunications industry regulator made this known in its Monthly Subscriber/Operator Data on Tuesday in Lagos.

It said that the active telecommunications service customers increased by 580,330 on the figure in November, which stood at 153,949,450.

According to the data, 154,124,602 of the 154,529,780 active numbers subscribed to the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network services.

The GSM operators’ active customers increased by 577,438 on the 153,547,164 subscribers recorded in November.

The reports stated that of the GSM operators, MTN had 61,840,461 users in December, which increased by 560,168 against 61,280,293 recorded in November.

Globacom’s figure increased in December by 91,360, giving a total of 37,359,843 customers as against 37,268,483 in November.

Airtel had 34,116,409 subscribers in the month under review, which increased by 739,853 users, as against 33,376,556 recorded in November.

Etisalat, however, recorded a drop in customers by 811,943 giving a customer base of 20,809,889 as against 21,621,833 users in November.

The Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) operators had 217,566 users in December, which was same with the result of November.

Between the two surviving CDMA service providers, Visafone had 213,106 customers, while Multi-Links had 4,460 in the month under review.

The monthly subscriber/operator data showed that the Fixed Wireless network (landline) consumers remained at 26,865 in December.

Also, between the two Fixed Wireless, Visafone had 26,437 subscribers, as Multi-Links maintained its November record of 428 customers.

It also revealed that the Fixed Wired operators (landline) subscriber base increased by 2,935, giving a total of 127,648 users in December, as against 124,713 recorded in November.

In the Fixed Wired arena, MTN Fixed moved from having 5,697 in November to 6,495 in December, thereby increasing by 798 users, while Glo Fixed had 12,643 users in December, adding 57 customers to the November record of 12,586.

IpNX network moved from 2,480 subscriber base in November to 2,468 in December, reducing its customers by 12.

It said that 21st Century network had 106,042 customers in December, recording an increase of 2,092 users on its November record of 103,950.

The report also showed that Smile Communications, the only operator on the Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) network had 33,099 active users in December, as its customers reduced by 43 from its November subscriber base of 33,142.

The regulatory body said that Section 89 Subsection 3(c) of the Nigerian Communications Act 2003 mandated it to monitor and report the state of the telecommunications industry.

”The commission is mandated to provide statistical analyses and identify industry trends with regard to services, tariffs, operators, technology, subscribers, issues of competition and dominance.

”This is with a view to identifying areas where regulatory intervention will be needed.

”The commission regularly conducts studies, surveys and produces reports on the telecommunications industry.

”Therefore, telecommunications operators are obligated, under the terms of the licenses, to provide NCC with such data on a regular basis for analytical review and publishing,” the report as said.

(NAN)