Economic Downturn: Nigeria Internet Users Decline By 81,415 – NCC

This was contained in the NCC’s monthly Internet Subscriber Data, released on Thursday in Lagos.

An analysis into the data showed that internet users on both the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), and the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks reduced by 81,415, from 92,363,336 subscribers which surfed the internet in May.

The data showed that out of the 92,281,921 internet users in June, 92,181,178 were on the GSM networks, while 100,743 users were on the CDMA.

Of the 92,181,178 internet users on the GSM networks in June, MTN Nigeria which had 32,974,177 customers browsing on its network, suffered a decrease of 134,609 subscribers after recording 33,108,786 users in the month of May.

On the other hand, Nigeria owned telecom giant, Globacom recorded an increase of 272,674 users from its May’s record of 26,355,391 to 26,628,065 in June.

Airtel Nigeria followed the footsteps of Globacom with a rise in the number of internet subscribers to 17,325,423 in the month of June, as against 17,280,089 customers in May.

The records, therefore, showed that Airtel Nigeria network users increased by 45,334 in the month of June.

The data also showed that Etisalat lost a total of 254,511 users in the month under review, dropping from 15,508,024 in May to 15,253,513 internet users in June.

It also revealed that only surviving two CDMA networks in the country (Multi-Links and Visafone), had a joint total of 100,743 internet users on their networks in June, recording a decrease of 10,303 users from 111,046 in May.

Multi-Links remained unchanged with 4 internet users in the month of June, while Visafone had 100,739 customers browsingthe internet in June, showing a reduction of 10,303 users from its May record of 111,042.

The NCC urged more Nigerians to embrace the internet in line with the country’s bid to achieving 30 per cent broadband penetration by 2018.