A recent data by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) disclosed that Nigeria’s internet subscriptions hit 152 million subscribers in July 2022. The country gained 1 million subscribers as a similar report by the NCC in June, quoted the number of Internet subscribers to be 151 million.
NCC revealed that the mobile network providers, MTN, Globacom, Airtel, and 9mobile were still the country’s telecom merchants as they accounted for a combined 151.4 million of the total subscriptions.
VoIP operators, Smile Communications and Ntel subscriptions totaled 366, 271 while another 14,716 were on fixed wired networks of 21st Century and iPNX. Other internet service providers (ISPs) in the country accounted for 210,597 active subscriptions.
Why it matters
Already the Federal Government of Nigeria is charging the Information and Communication Sector (ICT) with taxes numbering 41, seeing the performance of the sector. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the sector contributed 18.44% to the country’s GDP in Q2 2022. An uptrend from the 16.20% in the first quarter of 2022.
Also, according to the Minister of Finance, Dr Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, in the first four months of 2022, the country earned N632.56 billion from non-oil tax to which the ICT sector actively contributes.
Therefore, an increase in the number of Internet subscribers ultimately translates to an increased remittance to the government.
Other points worth noting
A continuous increase in Internet subscribers in the country could lead to the harvesting of opportunities aligned with Internet-enabled jobs, which further boosts the country’s economy.
Endeavor Nigeria, in a recent report, projected that Nigeria and other African countries can create up to 44 million jobs if Internet penetration reaches 75%. An increase in internet subscribers is a step in that direction.
- On the flip side, a negative use of the internet could cause cybercrimes.