Nigeria Internet subscribers drop by 536,346 – NCC

Prof Umar Danbatta, NCC Executive Vice Chairman
Photo: Chronicle NG

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says the number of internet users in Nigeria’s telecommunications networks drifted to 91,910,341 in December 2016.

The telecommunications industry umpire made the disclosure in its Monthly Internet Subscribers Data for November, obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Lagos.

The data indicated that internet users on both Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks dropped by 536,346 in December as against 92,446,687 users recorded in November.

It showed that out of the 91,910,341 internet users in December, 91,880,032 were on GSM networks, while 30,309 users were on CDMA networks.

Also, the GSM service providers lost 536,346 internet customers after recording 91,880,032 users in December as against 92,416,378 it recorded in November.

The CDMA operators had retained 30,309 internet subscribers in December as recorded in November 2016.

The data revealed that MTN had 31,753,369 subscribers browsing the internet on its network in the month under review.

It explained that MTN recorded a drop 264,410 of internet subscribers in December after recording 32,017,779 in November.

According to the data, Globacom has 27,010,178 customers surfing the net on its network in December, revealing a decline of 112,714 users, from the 27,122,892 that surfed the internet on the network in November

Airtel had 19,363,545 internet users in December, adding 219,845 customers to its November record of 19,143,700.

The data also showed that Etisalat had 13,752,940 customers who browsed the internet in December revealing a decrease of 379,067 users against the 14,132,007 users recorded in November.

The NCC data revealed that the CDMA operators, Multi-Links and Visafone, had a joint total of 30,309 internet users on their networks in December, maintaining the same record of November.

According to the data, Visafone has 30,305 customers surfing the internet in December, while Multi-Links has just four internet users.

The decrease in the use of the internet in December showed that service providers had a great job of ensuring that more Nigerians embrace data as the next revolution.