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By Temitayo Jaiyeola<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nigerians and other nationals within Nigeria spent N3.25tn on airtime, data, and other telecommunication services in 2021, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is a 12.74 per cent increase from the N2.88tn that was spent in 2020 and a 31.55 per cent increase from the N2.47tn that was spent in 2019, reflecting a sustained increase in the relevance of telecoms services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A report titled, \u20182021 Subscriber\/Network Data Annual Report,\u2019 by the NCC said, \u201cFinance \u2013 This collation was based on the submissions received from service providers. It indicates that the total revenue in the sector recorded was N3.25tn.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2021, 173.56 billion minutes of calls were made in Nigeria, indicating a 15.07 per cent increase from the 150.83 billion minutes of calls that were made in 2020. The number of SMS sent increased by 15.06 per cent from 8.22 billion in 2020 to 9.46 billion in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The revenue was generated by operators in GSM, fixed wired, Internet service provision, value service added, collocation and infrastructure sharing, and other spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
GSM operators generated 85.42 per cent of the total revenue in the telecoms sector. According to the NCC, the suspension of sale and registration of new SIMs, SIM swaps, porting activities affected the growth of subscribers in the sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said, \u201cSubscriber number decreased from 204.60 million subscribers in 2020 to 195.46 million active voice subscriptions as at December 2021 with a loss of 9.14 million subscriptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis represents about 4.46 per cent decline in total subscription within the period under consideration. The decrease in Operators\u2019 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 SIMs, SIM swaps and all porting activities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe objective of the audit exercise was to verify and ensure compliance by Mobile Network Operators 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the NCC, foreign direct investment into the telecoms industry was $417.48m in 2021. Data usage surged in the year by 68.22 per cent from 209,917.40TB in 2020 to 353,118.89TB in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Commenting on the growth in telecoms usage, the President, National Association of Telecoms Subscribers, Adeolu Ogunbanjo, said, \u201cThe year 2020 was the real COVID-19 period and people were trying to graduate online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn 2021, there was a full blast in online activity. Working from home, an increase in online economic and commercial transactions which were all on telecoms infrastructure. This growth was meant to be. 2021 witnessed an uptake in online activities as people had to use their devices online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cData usage and calls increased. The growth might be stunted in 2022 because about 70 million subscribers cannot make calls presently. Perhaps data, yes. But the implementation of the SIM-NIN policy will have its effect.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Chief Operating Officer of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria, Ajibola Olude, added, \u201cThere are many factors that are responsible for the increase in the usage of telecom services, one of them is that productivity is now driven by telecom services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf you go to any sector today, their growth, their productivity is driven by telecom services. For instance, hospitality, banking, and insurance. Telecoms is showing its ability to serve all the sectors of the economy. This growth is expected in 2022 due to the anticipated increase in the adoption of telecom services.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Originally published at Punch<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Temitayo Jaiyeola Nigerians and other nationals within Nigeria spent N3.25tn on airtime, data, and other telecommunication services in 2021, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission. This is a 12.74 per cent increase from the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9],"tags":[2421,2422,48],"class_list":["post-7168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-airtime","tag-data","tag-nigeria"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n