The telecommunications voice subscribers in Nigeria have fallen by three percent in the first quarter of 2024.
This was according to the latest report released by the National Bureau of statistics, NBS.
The report on telecoms data: active voice and internet per state, porting and tariff information, Q1 2024 released on Monday, revealed that the active voice subscribers in the first quarter were 219,304,281 from the 226,161,713 reported in Q1 2023.
Also on a quarter-on-quarter basis, active voice subscribers fell by 2.41 percent.
NBS also revealed that internet subscribers grew by four percent in the same quarter under review.
It noted that 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.
The NBS report says: “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.”
On state profile analysis, Lagos state had the highest number of active voice subscribers in Q1 2024 with 25,956,074, followed by Ogun with 12,672,990 and Kano with 11,931,128.
On the other hand, Bayelsa recorded the least with 1,608,473, followed by Ebonyi and Ekiti with 1,885,657 and 1,969,568 respectively.
In addition, Lagos state had the highest number of active internet subscribers in Q1 2024 with 18,841,943, followed by Ogun with 9,528,795 and Kano with 9,067,983.
On the other hand, Bayelsa recorded the least with 1,201,601, followed by Ebonyi and Ekiti with 1,401,626 and 1,545,729 respectively. However, MTN had the highest share of subscriptions in Q1 2024.