The total number of active telecoms subscribers have grown to 212.2 million from 210 million recorded in August, 2022 and 208.6 million in July. This represents a teledensity of 111 per cent. The current number is an increase from about 400,000 aggregate telephone lines in the country as of 2000, on the eve of liberalisation. The figure was given by the Executive Vice Chairman/ Chief Executive of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta, at the 2nd International Conference of the Association of Media and Communications Researchers of Nigeria (AMCRON) taking place virtually from December 1-2, 2022.
According to Dambatta, basic Internet subscriptions also grew from zero ground to 152.7 million currently while broadband subscriptions stand at over 86 million, representing a 45.09 per cent penetration as of July 2022. Dambatta said the industry has also become a major contributor to our national economy with the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry contributing 18.94 per cent to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as of the second quarter of 2022, according to the latest data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). From this, the telecommunications sector alone contributed 15 per cent to GDP.
