Eleven months after debuting in Nigeria, the number of fifth-generation subscriptions has increased to 1.8 million.
Based on information obtained from the portal of the Nigerian Communications Commission. Data shows that as of August 2023, 0.83 percent of all mobile subscriptions (220.36 million) were on a 5G network.
This amounted to 1.83 million mobile subscriptions when calculated.
The number of 5G subscriptions increased by 537.95% month over month from 286,698.4029 in July 2023 to 1,828,997.8438 in August 2023, despite a 0.079% decline in the nation’s total number of mobile subscriptions.
Only 0.13% (286,698.4029) of all mobile subscriptions (220.54 million) were on a 5G network as of July 2023. subscriptions to 2G.
Nigeria’s 5G journey got underway in 2019 when the NCC announced that it would test the technology there for three months prior to final approval and rollout. There was a demonstration later that year, but the commission did not formally auction its first two 5G spectrums until December 2022.
Airtel Africa lost, and MTN Nigeria and Mafab Communications came out on top. About a year later, Airtel Africa would eventually receive its license. MTN Nigeria began offering 5G service commercially in September 2022 in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, Kano, Owerri, and Maiduguri. 2022 September.
“5G will change everything,” MTN Nigeria’s Chief Executive Officer Karl Toriola said at the launch.
MTN has since taken the lead in the nation’s 5G rollouts. The company stated that 5.5% of people are now covered by its 5G in its second quarter report for 2023. Despite rollout events in Lagos and Abuja earlier this year, Mafab, which received its 5G license at the same time as MTN, has yet to launch commercially. Given that this is the operator’s first foray into operating mobile networks, concerns have been raised about its readiness for 5G.
Airtel Africa has commercially launched 5G in the nation despite arriving late to the party. The company teamed up with Samsung to release low-cost 5G enabled devices as well in order to increase its chances and penetration.
Femi Oshinlaja, the Chief Commercial Officer of Airtel Nigeria, said the following during the launch:
Nevertheless, more Nigerians are anticipated to adopt 4G first, and 5G’s growth won’t start to accelerate until later in the decade. According to a recent report from GSMA, 113 million 5G connections are anticipated in Nigeria and South Africa by 2030. By September 2023, 41% of South Africa’s population would already be covered by 5G.
With MTN’s data traffic increasing by nearly 50% year over year, the GSMA recently stated about Nigeria’s 5G network, “Expanding 5G coverage to additional sites will be important to enhance capacity.” Commercial 5G services were launched by Mafab and Airtel in January 2023 and June 2023, respectively. In addition, Airtel recently declared plans to invest $700 million over several years in its 5G network in Nigeria.
