According to data from the Nigerian Communications Commission, data usage in Nigeria surged by 202.08 percent in three years.
According to the subscriber/network data reports of 2018, 2019, and 2020, data usage rose from 68,154.12 terabytes in 2018 to 125,149.86TB in 2019 and 205,880.4TB in 2020.
The total national and local outgoing voice calls were 121,935,927,123.15 in 2018. The calls grew to 149,584,465,210 in 2019 to 150,825,830,687.40.
According to the NCC, in 2018, broadband penetration figures stood at 31.48 percent.
The total active 3G connections were 47,325,726 while 4G connections were 12,761,473 subscriptions.
In 2019, broadband penetration grew to 37.80 percent, with the total active 3G connections growing to 50,441,608 while 4G grew to 21,712,216.
In 2020, broadband penetration stood at 45.02 percent, with the total active 3G connection falling to 49,402,994, while 4G grew to 36,538,228.
In the period under review, GSM internet subscribers grew by 53,639,503 from 100,234,283 in January 2018 to 153,873,786 in December 2020.
MTN had the largest market share. In 2018, it had an internet subscriber base of 37,201,086, which grew to 59,594,891 in December 2020.
In 2018, MTN made N164.79bn from data and N674.78bn from voice. Its data revenue rose from N218.69bn in 2019 to N332.37bn in 2020 while voice revenue increased from N723.92bn to N766.39bn.
According to the NCC, the increase in data usage in 2020 was due to the outbreak of COVID-19, which disrupted normal activities and forced most functions to adopt virtual forms.
Ferdi Moolman, the former MTN Nigeria CEO, said, “The year 2020 was challenging for all of us.”. In the midst of this unprecedented disruption, the businesses and individuals we serve faced new and challenging challenges.
“The impact continues to grow. As lockdowns and gathering restrictions were implemented, the use of our data and digital services accelerated, and work-from-home became the norm.
Airtel had in a report commented on the rise in data traffic, saying the improved 4G network had resulted in an increase in smartphone penetration, data customers, and large data volumes consumed per customer.
“Smartphone penetration rose one percentage point to 33 percent and our data customer base grew 14.5%, making up 34.3% of our total customer base.
“Data consumption reached 2.6 GB per customer (up from 1.8 GB per customer) due to an increase in smartphone penetration and an expansion of home broadband and enterprise customers.
As a result, we grew data revenue by 31.2% in constant currency. As penetration and usage of 3G and 4G data customers increased, our data ARPU increased 8.2%.
As a result, Fourth Generation data usage more than doubled in the last year, accounting for 62.2% of total data usage on the network in the fourth quarter of 21.”
Mobile devices are driving the growth in data usage, with GSM holding the largest market share. Smartphones dominate the mobile device market.
Nigeria had 53 million smartphone connections in 2018, according to GSMA. The GSMA estimates that smartphone connections will reach 154 million by 2025
