Findings showed that growth of the sector has been on the downward slide as over 12 million mobile subscriptions have been cut off. Access to the latest industry subscription statistics released at the weekend by the Nigerian Communications Commission confirmed this challenge as the country’s tele-density dropped by 6.34 per cent.
Nigeria has recorded a steady increase in mobile phone users since 2001. According to Statista, the country moved from 270,000 cellular subscriptions in 2001 to 185 million in 2019. Another report revealed that Nigeria topped the list of Internet subscriptions in Africa in Q4.2020 with a wide gap. In the second to fourth positions were Egypt, Kenya, and South Africa, where mobile telephony was introduced in 1996, 1999 and 1994 respectively.
Globacom only lost 1.92 million customers. The telecommunications firm had 54.8 million customers four months backs, but currently has 52.9 million and 27.7 per cent expansion. Analysing the impact, Nigeria Coordinator, Alliance for Affordable Internet Olusola Teniola, said the impact of the SIM activation policy is a Q1.2021 story and a Q2.2021 reality.