Active internet subscriptions by technology dropped in March 2021 by 2 per cent as the teledensity percentage continues to shrink. In data analysed by New National Star obtained from the website of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the number of active subscriptions which was at 148.5 million in February reduced to 144.9 million in March.
The reduction came mainly from the Mobile GSM and the Voice Over Internet Protocol (VolP). The GSM subscriptions fell from 148.1 million to 144.6 million while VolP dropped from 373,788 active subscriptions in February to 356,223 active subscriptions in March. Broadband penetration also reduced in March. The penetration in February was 42 per cent with 80 million subscriptions but by March it had reduced to 41 per cent with 78.6 million subscriptions.
The reduction in internet subscription was a reflection of the drop in teledensity mark. In February, the teledensity percentage was 102.72 per cent and it was 100.8 per cent in March 2021. The teledensity mark, which is the active telephone connections per one hundred people living in a given area, dropped for the fifth month in a row.
The telecoms industry which is a major contributor to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has continued to suffer a decline in its growth trajectory. On December 14, 2020, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, with NCC, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), as well as the CEOs and Management staff of all service providers in the industry agreed to link the NINs of telephone subscribers to the SIM records and block all SIMs that did not have a NIN linked to them.
This meant that new SIM card registration was put on hold from the set date till last April when NCC lifted the embargo but network providers have said that they have yet to receive approval to resume registration of SIMs. While the drop in teledensity mark started before last December, it seems to have greatly accelerated it. The federal government has given various deadlines for the NIN-SIM link but it has continued to extend the deadline. The latest deadline expires in June. Business owners who have been affected by their inability to register new SIMs or retrieve older ones are hoping that the embargo on SIM registration will be lifted soon.