ABUJA, JANUARY 6, 2017 – The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said Internet users on Nigeria’s telecommunications networks declined to 92,446,687 in November 2016, continuing the downward roll of October 2016.
The telecommunications industry regulator made the disclosure in its latest Monthly Internet Subscribers Data released on Thursday.
Since NCC authorized telecoms service providers to hike the price of data, which it has since made u-turn on, the number of Internet users have continued to dwindle.
In October, NCC reported that Internet users on both Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks decreased by 391,679 in respect to September figures.
While the telecoms regulator reported recently that active telecoms subscribers is on the increase, the result is yet to reflect on the numbers of Internet users.
The recent figures released by NCC indicates that Internet users on both Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks reduced by 759,683.
Out of the 92.4 million Internet users in November, only 30,309 users were on CDMA networks, the same number recorded in October. The rest were hooked to the GSM networks.
The data revealed that MTN had 32,017,779 subscribers, a decrease of 447,000, compared with the 32,464,779 subscribers in October.
Globacom has 27,122,892 customers on its network in November, revealing a decrease of 62,660 users, from the 27,185,552 in October.
Unlike Glo and MTN, Airtel gained 311,462 customers to balloon to 19,143,700 Internet users in November. The telecom firm’s October record was 18,832,238.
Etisalat lost far more customers than other networks, recording 14,132,007 customers who browsed the Internet in November. The figure was 561,485 lower compared to the 14,693,492 users it had in October.
The NCC data revealed that of the CDMA operators, Visafone is king, commanding 30,305 users, the same as in October.
Multi-Links has just four Internet users; the same figures recorded for the firm in October.
Meanwhile, stakeholders have decried the fact that despite IT boom, over 90% of Africans have no access to Internet.
