NBS Says With Over 65 Million Subscribers, One-Third of Nigeria’s Internet Subscribers Live In 5 States

The National Bureau of Statistics, Lagos, Abuja and other states in the top 5 states in the country have close to a whooping 65 million subscribers representing one-third of Nigeria’s total mobile subscribers. This actually means the four listed states and Abuja have dwarfed the other 32 states, with the telecom data report indicating that the total number of mobile subscribers increased by 19.9 million subscribers from 184.7 million recorded in 2019 to 204.6 million in 2020.

The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof Umar Danbatta, in a reports affirmed that Internet subscribers in Nigeria consume over 80,000 data terabytes per month in 2020.

States by State analysis of the distribution

In 2020, Lagos State leads the pack as it has the highest number of Voice and Internet subscribers recording about 24.88 million voice and 18.94 million internet subscribers during the year, with Kano and Ogun States following with 12.67 million and 12.01 million voice subscribers respectively.

Bayelsa and Ebonyi states had the least amount of subscribers, with 1.45 million and 1.81 million subscribers respectively during the year 2020.

Geo-political zones analysis of Subscriber base

South-West

In the report, the South West (SW) geopolitical zone has the highest number of subscribers with the six states in the region contributing about 58.34 million voice and 44.69 million internet subscribers. It is understandable Lagos being in the South West region is a major factor as the Center of excellence alone has about 24.88 million subscribers with Ogun state following with 12.01 million subscribers, while Oyo State has about 10.45 million subscribers.

Other states in the region, Osun has 4.67 million, Ondo 4.49 million, and Ekiti State with 1.85 million subscribers.

North West

Following the South West is the North West geopolitical zone with a total of 39.5 million subscribers, about 19.5% to the total subscriber base.

In the North West, Kano comes top with a 12.67 million mobile subscriber base followed by Kaduna with a 8.71 million subscribers. Katsina State is third in the North West with 5.69 million mobile subscribers, followed by Sokoto (3.93 million), Zamfara (3.02 million), Kebbi (2.94 million), and Jigawa (2.56 million).

North Central and FCT

The North central geopolitical zone and the Federal Capital territory has about 37.03 million subscribers in 2020, accounting for about 18.09 percent of Nigeria’s total subscriber base.

The FCT as the seat of power expectedly tops the list a 9.01million total subscriber base, followed by Niger State with 6.52 million subscribers.Benue State has about 5.03 million subscribers, with Kwara having 4.54 million, Nassarawa 4.12 million, Plateau 3.92 million, and Kogi State 3.91 million subscribers.

South-South

The South-South geopolitical zone has 29.59 million mobile subscribers as at the end of 2020, accounting for about 14.46 percent of Nigeria’s total subscribers.

Rivers State tops the list with 7.45 million subscribers followed closely by Edo State with 7.1 million subscribers, while Delta State has 6.91 million subscribers. Akwa Ibom State 3.91 million, Cross River 2.8 million, and  Bayelsa 1.46 million subscribers respectively

South-East

The South East geopolitical zone has a total of 20.06 million subscribers, accounting for about 9.78 percent of Nigeria’s mobile subscribers.

Anambra State leads the pack with 5.78 million subscribers followed by Imo state with 4.53 million subscribers. Enugu State comes third with 4.16 million subscribers with Abia and Ebonyi States having 3.77 million and 1.82 million subscribers respectively.

North-East

The North East geopolitical zone has about 16.96 million subscribers, accounting for 9.73 percent of Nigeria’s mobile subscriber base..

Bauchi State tops the list of mobile subscribers in the NE with 4.02 million, followed by Borno State with 3.96 million subscribers. Adamawa State has 3.54 million subscribers, Taraba State with 2.73 million subscribers, while Gombe has 2.71 million subscribers.