Active voice subscribers decline by 0.32% to 204m in Q4 2020

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said the number of active voice subscribers in Nigeria dropped to 204.60 million people in the fourth quarter of 2020.

This is against the 205.25 million subscribers recorded in the third quarter (Q3 2020), representing a decrease of 0.32 per cent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ).

According to the report “Telecoms Data: Active Voice and Internet per State, Porting and Tariff Information (Q4 2020)” released on Thursday, active voice subscribers in Q4 represent a 10.78 per cent increase compared to the corresponding period in 2019 which stood at 184.69 million.

It also disclosed that 154.30 million subscribers were active on the internet in Q4 2020, which slightly increased by 1.84 per cent compared to the 151.51 million subscribers in Q3 2020. This also represents a jump of 22.38 per cent year-on-year (YoY).

Lagos emerged with the highest number of subscribers in terms of active voice per state in Q4 2020 with 24.88 million people; followed by Kano (12.66 million); and Ogun (12.01 million).

Meanwhile, Bayelsa and Ebonyi had the least number of active voice subscribers in the period in view with 1.45 million and 1.81 million people respectively.

Similarly, Lagos had the highest number of internet subscribers per state in Q4 2020 with 18.93 million people, while Kano halved Lagos with 9.58 million people and Ogun took third place with 9.08 million people.

Again, Bayelsa (1.09 million) and Ebonyi (1.28 million) were the states with the least number of internet subscribers in Nigeria as at the end of Q4 2O20.

Also, MTN had the highest share of subscriptions (active voice and internet) with 146.12 million subscribers; followed by Airtel (96.92 million), Glo (94.94 million), and emerging markets telecommunications services (EMTS)—9mobile with 20.10 million subscribers.