Nigeria’s Telecom Industry Records 224.7 Million Active Subscribers As MTN Maintains Dominance

The size of Nigeria’s telecommunication subscribers rose to 224.7 million active subscribers last year, according to an official report.

The National Bureau of Statistics said in its ‘Telecoms Date for Q4, 2023’ that the total number of active voice subscribers grew by 0.96 per cent to 224,713,710 in Q4 2023 from 222,571,568 recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2022.

According to the NBS, in Q4 2023, the total number of active internet subscribers stood at 163,838,439 from 154,847,901 reported in Q4 2022.

Active data grew significantly by 5.81 per cent year on year while on a quarter-on-quarter basis, it rose by 2.29 per cent.

A breakdown of the state-level subscriber base reveals that Lagos state had the highest number of active voice subscribers in Q4 2023 with 26,739,346, followed by Ogun with 13,070,779 and Kano with 12,325,633.

Bayelsa recorded the least number of voice subscribers with 1,557,786, followed by Zamfara and Gombe with 2,772,424 and 2,785,030 respectively.

On active internet subscribers, Lagos state had the highest number of active internet subscribers in Q4 2023 with 18,927,446, followed by Ogun with 9,570,463 and Kano with 9,031,581.

Bayelsa State also recorded the least active internet subscribers with 1,193,525, followed by Zamfara and Gombe with 1,959,252 and 2,100,073 respectively.

MTN maintains its dominance in the industry as the telecommunication service provider with the highest share of subscriptions in Q4 2023.

In 2023, MTN recorded 87 million active voice subscribers, Airtel followed with 61.83 million active voice subscribers while GLO was third with 61.6 million subscribers.

EMTS formerly 9Mobile had 13.93 million active voice subscribers last year.