ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)
says there are 154,529,780 subscribers as at December 2016, compare
with 153,299,535 in September 2015, which represents a quarterly
increase of 0.80 per cent as at December 2016.
Nigeria Telecommunications Sector Summary Report: December 2016
released by NBS made this known on Tuesday in Abuja.
The report said that growth had continued unabated since April 2016,
before which subscriber numbers had fallen for several months.
It stated that the yearly increase in total subscriber numbers was
2.33 per cent, which was slightly higher than the yearly increase of
1.75 per cent recorded in the previous quarter.
“Last quarter’s growth rate has been revised up slightly.
“It has revised (from 1.73 per cent) following the inclusion of Voice
over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services, in addition to the four
services of (GSM, CDMA, Fixed Wired and Wireless) discussed in
previous reports.
“The four services are Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM),
Core Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Fixed Wired and Wireless.
“The numbers are small relative to the total, possibly due to the
service being newer.’’
As in the previous quarter, the report stated that the increase in
subscriber numbers was despite a quarterly fall in CDMA subscribers of
21.26 per cent.
This, the report stated compounded previous quarterly falls leading to
year -on -year fall of 89.87 per cent in December, a fall surpassed
only by the year- on -year fall of 89.88 per cent in November.
“The number of fixed wireless subscribers also recorded a large
decline, of 12.54 per cent compared to the previous quarter and 55.03
per cent year -on -year.
“However, by far the most popular technology type is GSM, and
therefore this technology type has a much larger effect on movements
in the total number of subscribers,’’ it stated.
Meanwhile, the report stated the total number of subscribers had
increased rapidly over the past decade; at the end of 2005 there were
19,519,154 subscribers.
It stated that it subscribers had increased rapidly but by the end of
2015 there were 151,017,244, which is equivalent to an increase of
13,149,809 every year.
“However, growth has been declining recently, possibly resulting from
high market penetration leaving less room for large expansion,’’ it
stated.
In real terms, the report stated that the telecommunications sector
contributed N 1.40 billion to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the
third quarter of 2016, or 8.0 per cent, which represents a decrease of
1.8 per cent points relative to the previous quarter.
However, it stated that due to differing seasonal patterns,
telecommunications tends to account for the lowest share of GDP in the
third quarter.
“The share of telecommunications in total real GDP had declined
throughout 2010 to 2014, but for the last six quarters growth in
telecommunications has been higher, meaning the trend has reversed.
“Although, growth in the telecommunications sector remained positive,
in contrast with the economy as a whole, year- on- year growth
nevertheless dropped in real terms from 1.5 per cent in the previous
quarter to 0.9 per cent, the lowest rate since third quarter 2011,’’
it stated.
