The four month SIM registration ban in Nigeria seem to have taken a toll on internet subscription in the country as internet subscription has dropped by 13.7million over the last six months.
Reports gotten from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) showed that In December last year, internet subscription figures stood at 154 million, but plunged to 141.7 million by April 2021 and had dropped further by October,2021 to 140.3 million.
Subscription for high-speed internet, also known as broadband, also dropped by 1.4 million between May and October this year. Broadband penetration level declined to 39.89 in October, down from 40.66 per cent in April.
This decline is coming amidst implementation of the National Broadband Plan(2020-2025), which seeks to connect 70 per cent of Nigerians within five years.
However, amidst the decline in internet subscription, mobile network operators are making more money as the increase in revenue is driven by an increase in data subscription by their active customers.
In the last three months financial results for the quarter that ended in September, MTN and Airtel generated a total of ₦227 billion as revenue from data.
