Total revenues recorded in the Nigeria telecom sector stood at N3,247,595,808,883.87 last year, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said in a report compiled by its Policy Competition and Economic Analysis Department and released yesterday.
The report which was based on the submissions received from the telecom operators also showed that the industry reported N1,720,547,371,856.01 operating cost (opex) as at December, 2021 while its domestic investment capital expenditure (capex) stood at N1, 124,116,990,000.00 as at year end, according to submissions from licensees.
Quoting the stats from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), capital inflow by way of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into the telecoms industry during the period under review was approximately $417,481,615.30 as against $942, 863,833.96 it was in 2019.
Entitled: 2021 Subscriber/Network Data Annual Report, it noted that a substantial telecom infrastructure deployment was recorded last year by the mobile network operators (MNOs).
A total of 49, 579 towers were recorded from mobile and fixed operators as well as collocation and Infrastructure Companies while the operators also reported a total number of 38,288 base stations transceiver stations (BTS).
Microwave coverage recorded during the year under review stood at 290,940.69km, covering both the mobile and fixed operators.
The mobile, fixed and other operators recorded a total number of 99 Gateways in use in the industry as at December 2021 while fiber optics deployment stood at 86,057km (terrestrial fiber & submarine cable.
During the period, the total BTS owned by mobile telecoms operating companies increased to 38,123 from 36,998 in December, 2020 across all states of the federation representing an increase of 3.04 per cent from the previous year.
As at December, 2021 the total land fiber deployment was 47,128.7km as against 43,898.8km in 2020. Shedding more light on the fiber deployment, the report showed that MTN – 14,612km; GLO – 13,233km; AIRTEL – 14,454km; EMTS (9mobile) – 4,650km and NTEL – 180km.
As at December, 2021 the total submarine fiber deployment in kilometer was 27,818.3km as against 25,128.3km in year 2020. This is an increase of 10.7per cent within the year under consideration . The fiber deployment by four mobile operators are as follows: – MTN -17,934km; GLO – 9,800km; AIRTEL -14km and NTEL – 70km.
On telecoms industry network/subscriber statistics, the report noted that subscriber number decreased from 204,601,313 in 2020 to 195,463,898 active voice subscriptions as at December 2021 with a loss of 9,137,415 subscriptions. This represents about 4.46per cent decline in total subscription within the period under consideration.
The decrease in operators’ subscriber base was attributed majorly to the effect of the directive from NCC in December 2020 to all GSM Operators to suspend the sale and registration of new subscriber identity modules (SIMs), SIM swaps and all porting activities.
The objective of the audit exercise was to verify and ensure compliance by MNOs with the set quality standards and requirements of SIM Card Registration as issued by the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy and the Commission.
Nigeria`s teledensity decreased from 107.18 per cent as at December 2020 to 102.40per cent by December 31, 2021.
The number of internet subscribers decreased from 154,318,925 subscriptions as at December 2020 to 141,994,285 subscriptions as at December 2021 representing a decline of eight per cent while broadband penetration dipped from 45.02per cent as at December 2020 to 40.88per cent as at December, 2021.
Similarly, broadband subscriptions decreased from 85,941,222 in December 2020 to 78,041,883 subscriptions as at December 2021.
On internet usage, the report said there was an increase in the volume of data consumed in the year end December 2021 when compared with the year ended December 2020. The total volume of data consumed by subscribers increased to 353,118.89TB as at December 2021 from 209,917.40TB as at December 2020. This represents an increase of 68.2per cent in data consumption within the period.
Telecoms industry contribution to the Nigerian Gross Domestic Products (GDP) increased from 12.45 per cent in the fourth quarter (Q4) 2020 to 12.61per cent in Q4 of 2021.
Source: Nation
