Lagos – The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on Saturday said that internet users on Nigeria’s telecommunications networks reduced to 93.75 million as at February 2016.
The commission made this known in its monthly Internet Subscriber Data, made available to newsmen in Lagos.
It said that the number of subscribers that browsed the internet in January was put at 95.94 million; but reduced to 93.75 million in the month of February.
The data revealed those internet users on both the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) and the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks reduced by 2,194,162
The data showed that of the 93.75 million internet users in February, 93.6 million were on GSM networks, while 150,125 users were on the CDMA.
Of the 93.6 million internet users on the GSM networks in the month under review, MTN Nigeria had 35.6 million customers browsing the internet on its network.
It stated that MTN had a decrease of 2.6 million internet subscribers in February, after it recorded 38.21 million users in the month of January.
According to the report, Globacom had 25.68 million customers surfing the net in February, as the number increased by 248,593 from the January’s record of 25.43 million.
Airtel Nigeria, it said, had 17 million internet users in the month of February, as against 16.85 million customers recorded in January.
It said that Internet users on the Airtel Nigeria network increased by 224,037 in February.
The data added that Etisalat had 15.23 million internet users in February, against the 15.28 million in January, hence, reducing by 52,251 in the month under review.
It also revealed that the CDMA operators (Multi-Links and Visafone), had a joint total of 150,125 internet users on their networks in February.
It showed that the only surviving two CDMA networks in the country listed a decrease of 52 internet subscribers in the month under review, from the 150,177 users they recorded in January.
Visafone had maintained 149,953 customers surfing the internet in February, as it recorded from December 2015.
Multi-Links had 172 internet users in February, reducing 52 customers from the January record of 224 users.
The decrease in the use of the internet in the month of February showed that there was the need for more Nigerians to embrace the internet.
The NCC noted that the country was making progress towards achieving 30 per cent broadband penetrations by 2018.
Meanwhile, the number of inactive mobile telephone lines dropped to 62.61 million in February, 2016.
This is contained in the commission’s “Monthly Subscriber Data’’ released in Lagos and made available to newsmen.
The document showed that the inactive Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards reduced by 523,233 in the month from 63.13 million recorded in January.
It said that “connected numbers’’ figure was 214.23 million during the period, reducing by 260,644 from 214.49 million recorded in January.
“The Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks connected 3,677,676 subscribers as against 3,678,068 recorded in the month of January, thereby losing 392 customers in February.
“The Fixed Wired/Wireless operators recorded 353,923 connected numbers in February as against 351,625 in January, adding 2,298 numbers to their networks.
“Furthermore, the active subscribers on the telecommunications networks in the month of February stood at 151,620,358, increasing by 262,589 from the 151,357,769 telecommunications users in January.
“The GSM networks had a share of 149,288,370 from the February 151,620,358 active lines as against 149,022,919 functional numbers in January, adding 265,451 active lines in February,’’ it said.
The commission added that CDMA operators shared a total of 2,147,322 active subscribers in February, losing 660 from 2,147,982 active lines recorded in January.
It also said that Fixed Wired/Wireless networks recorded 184,666 active lines in February, losing 2,202 customers from the 186,868 active subscribers in January.
It explained that February subscriber data which showed a reduction of 260,644 from the connected lines in January implied that telecommunications operators were not eager to accumulate more subscribers.
“The reduction in the inactive line showed that telecommunications subscribers were now responding to the ongoing SIM cards revalidation exercise,’’ it stated.
