Nigeria’s digital growth is being driven by Lagos and Ogun States, according to the National Bureau of Statistics’ Telecoms Data report for the first quarter of 2024, which was disclosed to the public on Monday.
It shows that Lagos State has the most active internet customers with 18.84 million, closely followed by Ogun State with 9.53 million.
Significant regional differences were also brought to light by the survey, with different states having different rates of internet adoption. For example, Kano State had 9.07 million internet users. When it comes to improving digital connectivity, Lagos has completed 2,700 km of fibre optic infrastructure, which is a major milestone.
Tumbosun Alake, the state’s IT chief, claims that this achievement is a component of a larger plan to persuade telecom providers to provide internet access to underserved areas.
Lagos plans to increase the amount of fibre by 3,300 km by 2027, reaching 6,000 kilometres overall. Nonetheless, to attain complete coverage, that state needs a more vast network of 36,000 km, underscoring the necessity of working with the private sector to accomplish this.
The survey also revealed a 3.3% decline in phone users to 219 million, but a 4.33 percent gain in internet subscriptions to 164 million.
It discloses, “The total number of active voice subscribers in Q1 2024 was 219,304,281 from the 226,161,713 reported in Q1 2023, indicating a growth rate of -3.03 percent. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, active voice subscribers fell by 2.41 percent.
“Also, in Q1 2024, the total number of active internet subscribers stood at 164,368,292 from 157,551,104 reported in Q1 2023, showing an increase of 4.33 percent. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, this grew by 0.32 percent.”
With 25.96 million active voice subscribers and 18.84 million active internet users, Lagos State topped the list in both categories, according to the bureau. Notedly, MTN maintained its dominant market position in Q1 2024, accounting for the majority of new subscribers.
69.4 million people used the internet and 81.8 million people had voice subscriptions, according to the telecom giant. Second place went to Globacom, which had 44.4 million internet users and 62.2 million voice subscribers.
With 46.8 million internet users and 63.4 million voice subscribers, Airtel ranked third. With 11.7 million voice subscribers and 3.3 million internet users, 9mobile followed as revealed on the digital news platform.
Continuing, on Saturday, MTN Nigeria revealed that it was building the largest data centre in West Africa, a Tier 4 data centre with 1,500 racks, inside the nation.
According to Mr Mohammed Rufai, the Chief Technical Officer of MTN, “We see a high demand in the market, with data usage growing significantly.
“And to cater to the demand and prepare for future growth, MTN is expanding and modernising its data centre capacity,” he added.
