Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said the country’s internet subscribers reduced by 15 per cent, equating to 24.5 million within a year.
Gatekeepers News reports that as of December 2024, the total number of internet subscribers was 139.28 million, a drop from 163.83 million recorded in December 2023.
According to its latest industry statistics published on Monday; out of the figure, mobile (GSM) accounted for 138.77 million subscribers – leaving the remaining subscribers under fixed wired and VolP.
The regulator noted that 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.
NCC said Airtel gained 1.24 million subscribers, climbing 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.
NCC industry statistics also showed that there were 164.9 million subscribers for telephony services in December 2024.
The figure increased by 5 million from 159.8 million recorded in November but fell by 59.7 million when compared with the 224.7 million recorded in December 2023.
Out of the total value of 164 million subscribers, MTN recorded the highest with 84.6 million active telephony subscribers, followed by Airtel with 56.61 million, Globacom with 20.13 million, and 9mobile with 3.23 million.
