Nigeria ended the year 2024 with 164.9 million active telecommunications subscribers. This is according to December 2024 subscription statistics released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
Though the figure was 224.7 million in December 2023, the NIN-SIM audit helped to filter the system and by September 2024, NCC puts the figure at 154 million.
NCC explained that every active mobile telephone number in the country could now be identified after the cleaning brought about the NIN-SIM exercise. It can also be deduced that from October to December 2024, telecoms operators activated and reactivated about 10 million lines. In October 2024, the figure was 157.6 million, it moved to 159.8 million in November and by the end of the year, it was 164.9 million.
The country’s teledensity grew from 71.4 per cent in September, after the audit to 76 per cent by year end. Teledensity is a measurement of the number of telephones in a specific area compared to the number of people living there. It’s often used to compare access to communication services between different areas or countries.
Further analysis of the NCC data showed that 4G technology remained the dominant technology, reaching 47. 2 per cent coverage of the country in 2024. 2G remained useful in Nigeria with 41.59 per cent and 3G, 8.75 per cent.
According to The Guardian checks, 5G, which is its third year of commercial launch in Nigeria, recorded 2.46 per cent penetration. By implication, it means that some four million Nigerians are now on 5G radar offered by MTN, Airtel and Mafab Communications.
GSM platforms provided Internet services for 138.7 million Nigerians in the course of 2024, while the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) serviced 285,702 customers.
While the National Broadband Plan 2020 to 2025 is expected to expire this year, after it must have enabled 70 per cent penetration, as of December 2024, broadband penetration in Nigeria stood at 44.43 per cent. The implication of this is that Nigeria is 25.5 per cent away from meeting the 70 per cent target. It should be noted, however, that some 96.3 million Nigerians are currently enjoying broadband Internet service in the country.
