NCC: New mobile Internet subscriptions declined to 2.51 million amid Lockdown

Mobile network operators NCC gained a total of 2.51 million new Internet users in April when residents in Lagos, Ogun, Abuja and other states observed the government-imposed lockdown. Statistics obtained from the Nigerian Communications Commission on Monday showed that the industry gained the lowest number of new Internet users in April.

The mobile operators had in March added 4.18 million new Internet users while they added 3.28 million new Internet users in February. In January, the industry gained 2.64 million new Internet users.

Also, the number of new Internet users added to the networks in April is lower than that of the corresponding period in 2019 when the service providers added 3.57 million Internet subscribers.

The coronavirus pandemic and lockdown had necessitated the adoption of work-from-home policy by many organisations with workers leveraging the Internet to communicate, hold meetings and execute important tasks.

Also, students who had been asked to stay away from school continued learning virtually while others leveraged the Internet for gaming and entertainment.

The latest data obtained from the NCC showed that the industry’s total Internet users climbed to 138.34 million at the end of April from 135.83 in March 2020.

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The closure of shops in April may have affected the capacity of operators to serve customers that needed new SIM cards.

Globacom gained the highest number of new subscribers in April, adding 2.07 million new Internet users to its network to reach 35.94 million subscribers as against 33.87 million users in March.

MTN added 698,593 new Internet users to its network during the lockdown, achieving a total of 57.98 million Internet as of April ending as against 57.28 million in March this year.

Airtel gained 41,791 new Internet subscribers during the lockdown to reach 36.87 million users from 36.83 million Internet subscribers in March.

The data indicated that 9mobile continued its losing trend with a loss of 302,125 Internet users in April down to 7.46 million subscribers in April as against 7.76 million users in May.

Subscribers on Visafone spectrum owned by MTN remained the same at 88,818 Internet users.

The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), announced a lockdown of activities in Lagos, Abuja and Ogun, for four weeks, which started on March 31, 2020.

Some states, including Osun and Ekiti states, also announced a total lockdown and restriction of movement of residents except for those on essential duties.

However, commercial activities resumed on May 4 in Abuja, Lagos and Ogun after the government announced the gradual easing of the restrictions introduced to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

Also, telecoms operators recorded a total of 190.48 million subscribers as of April 2020, according to the latest monthly report on subscribers from the NCC.

In just one month of lockdown, the industry statistics showed that the telcos gained 1.49 million new subscribers as March subscriber base stood at 188.99 million.

The data showed that MTN gained the highest number of new subscribers in the month under review, adding 1.1 million subscribers to its network to reach 74.67 million customers.

Airtel, for the first time this year, lost 40,496 customers down to 51.26 million users in April from 51.29 million in March.

Globacom also lost 17,824 mobile subscribers in April, dropping to 51.84 million GSM users as against 51.86 million mobile customers in March 2020.

9mobile, for the first in more than one year, added 444,903 new mobile users to its network, rising to 12.56 million mobile users in April from 12.12 million subscribers in March.

Subscribers on Visafone remained constant at 137,086.

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