The number of telecommunication subscribers in Nigeria grew by 2.03 million in January, according to new industry statistics from the Nigerian Communications Commission.
The NCC stated that there were 195,128,265 telecom subscribers in December 2021. In its new industry statistics, the commission revealed that the number of subscribers grew to 197,152,773 in January 2022.
Data from the commission added that teledensity, the number of active telephone connections per 100 inhabitants living within an area, grew from 102.40 per cent in December 2021 to 103.46 per cent in January 2022.
The data further revealed that the number of Internet subscribers grew by 1,588,493 from 141,617,023 in December 2021 to 143,205,516 in January 2022.
Commenting on the growth, the President of the National Association of Telecoms Subscribers, Adeolu Ogunbanjo, said the recent growth being witnessed in the sector was as a result of the extension of the deadlines of the National Identification Number-Subscriber Identity Module data verification exercise.
He added, “Those two million new subscribers would have undergone the processes of SIM-NIN linkages.
“That is the essence of leaving it open-ended, that is no closing date. What if the recent extension didn’t happen, it means these two million wouldn’t have been added to the database at all.
“I would further say they should encourage subscribers to do the SIM-NIN linkage at their pace. They need to leave it open-ended. In the next six to nine months, we would record more connections from subscribers. And these subscribers would have undergone the SIM-NIN registration.
“This growth is a result of the extensions granted from time to time. We can rest assured that the NIN-SIM linkage will definitely improve because people can now do it at their pace rather than being cornered and tensed.”
