NCC details 46% drop in telecom sector investment

Despite a fall in foreign direct investment of 46.89% in 2022, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) reported that telecommunication connectivity increased by roughly 11.26% in Nigeria.

According to its newly issued “2022 Subscriber/Network Data Annual Report,” operators deployed 12,882 more base stations in 2022, bringing the total number up to 127,294 from 114,412 in 2021 and expanding the availability of telecom services like calls, Internet, and more.

Broadband penetration climbed to 47.36 percent as of December 2022 from 40.88 percent the previous year, and active subscriptions increased from 195.46 million to 222.57 million, both indicators of greater access to telecom services.

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Also, teledensity rose from 102.40 per cent in 2021 to 116.60 per cent in 2022, while Internet subscriptions grew from 141.97 million in 2021 to 154.85 million last year.

The commission stated that 93.90 per cent of the population was covered by a 2G network, 86.82 per cent of the population had a 3G network and 80.86 per cent of the population had been covered by LTE/WiMAX network.

It said, “A substantial telecom infrastructure deployment was recorded in 2022 by telecom providers.”

Growth in the rollout of fibre (terrestrial fibre and submarine cable) which stood at 96,198 km last year from 86,057km as of 2021 provided the backbone for the 46.77 per cent surge of data consumption in the country to 518,381.78TB.

Earlier this year, the NCC had said the number of Nigerians without access to telecommunication services fell by 37.04 per cent to 27 million in 2022.

It noted that the number of identified clusters in the country without access to telecoms fell to 53.1 per cent as of the end of the year.

The Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, said, “We have worked tirelessly to ensure we bring telecom services to people living in rural, unserved, and underserved areas of this country, totalling 37 million people courtesy of the consultancy that was conducted in 2013.

“By 2022, we have reduced the clusters of access gaps to 97 from 207 in 2013. The number of Nigerians again has come down from 37 million in 2013 to 27 million as we speak.”