Operators in the Nigerian telecom sector – GSM operators, fixed wired operators, internet service providers (ISPs), value added service (VAS) operators, collocation and infrastructure sharing operators, and other telecom services – collectively earned N3.247 trillion revenue, with total operating cost at N1.7 trillion in 2021.
According to the statistics posted yesterday on the official website of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the capital expenditure (domestic investment) stood at N1, 24,116,990,000.00 as at the end of 2021, based on submissions from responsive licensees.
Capital flow (foreign direct investment) into the Nigerian telecoms industry in 2021 was approximately $417 billion as against $942 million it was in 2019.
A breakdown of the figures showed that Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) operators alone raked in a total revenue of N2.7 trillion, while fixed wired operators recorded N375 billion. Similarly, internet service providers raked in N59 billion, while VAS providers recorded N32 billion. In the same vein, collocation and infrastructure sharing operators raked in N3 billion, while other telecom operators recorded N2.44 billion, amounting to a total of N3.247 trillion revenue generation in 2021.
The data showed that a total of 49, 579 towers were recorded from mobile and fixed operators as well as collocation and infrastructure companies. The operators also reported a total number of 38,288 Base Stations.
Microwave coverage in 2021, stood at 290,940.69km, which covered the mobile and fixed Operators.
Mobile, fixed and other operators recorded a total number of 99 gateways in use in the industry as at December 2021, while fiber optics deployment stood at 86,057km, which included terrestrial fiber and submarine cable as at December 2021.
Telecom subscription decreased from 204,601,313 in 2020, to 195,463,898 active voice subscriptions as at December 2021, which was a loss of 9,137,415 subscriptions.
Internet subscription also decreased from 154,318,925 as at December 2020, to 141,994,285 as at December 2021 representing a decline of 8 per cent.
Broadband penetration decreased from 45.02 per cent as at December 2020 to 40.88 per cent as at December, 2021.
Telecom contribution to Nigeria’s GDP, the Gross Domestic Product, increased from 12.45 per cent in the fourth quarter, 2020 to 12.61 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2021, the NCC figures further revealed.
