GSM, Fixed Telephony Operators (Fixed/ Fixed Wireless); Internet Service Providers (ISPs); Value Added Service (VAS); Collocation and Infrastructure Sharing, and other telecommunications operators earned N3.2 trillion (N3.24 trillion) in 2021.
As of 2021, the operating costs of these operators were N1.72 trillion, while CAPEX (domestic investment) was N1.12 trillion.
All of this was revealed in the Nigerian Communications Commission’s (NCC) Policy Competition and Economic Analysis Department’s 2021 Subscriber/Network Data Annual Report, which was issued yesterday.
GSM players’ CAPEX was N1.12 trillion, they operated with N1.65 trillion, and they made N2.77 trillion in revenue. Fixed Wired operators had a domestic investment of N60.9 million, operated with N534.16 million, and earned N375 billion.
The revenue of the ISPs was N60 billion, with a CAPEX of N3.6 billion and a net profit of N48.4 billion. The CAPEX for VAS operators was N335.8 million, with an operating budget of N10.12 billion and a profit of N32.9 billion.
Players in the Collocation and Infrastructure Sharing space spent N266.26 million on domestic investment, operated with N2.32 billion, and made N3.07 billion in revenue. According to NCC, other firms in the industry made N2.44 billion, invested N171.47 million in the country, and operated with N899.86 million.
According to the analysis, capital inflow (FDI) into the telecoms industry in 2021 will be around $417.48 million, down from $942.86 million in 2019. This is based on statistics from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Subscriber numbers fell from 204,601,313 in 2020 to 195,463,898 active voice subscriptions at the end of 2020, a loss of 9,137,415 subscriptions, according to the NCC. This represents a 4.46 percent drop in overall subscriptions throughout the time period in question.
The telecoms regulator explained that the drop in operator subscriber base was mostly due to the impact of its December 2020 regulation to all GSM carriers prohibiting the sale and registration of new SIMs, as well as SIM swaps and any porting activities.
The goal of the audit, according to the NCC, was to verify and confirm that Mobile Network Operators were complying with the quality criteria and requirements of SIM Card Registration as set forth by the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy and the Commission.
Teledensity dropped from 107.18 percent in December 2020 to 102.40 percent a year later, according to the data. As of December 2021, the number of Internet customers had declined by 8%, from 154,318,925 to 141,994,285 subscriptions.
In terms of broadband penetration, it fell from 45.02 percent in 2020 to 40.88 percent in December 2021. Similarly, the number of broadband subscribers fell from 85,941,222 to 78,041,883.
In terms of Internet consumption, the survey indicated that the volume of data consumed in 2021 was higher than in 2020. According to NCC, the total volume of data consumed by subscribers climbed to 353,118.89 TB in December 2021 from 209,917.40 TB the previous year, accounting for 68.2 percent of overall data consumption throughout the time.
In terms of GDP contribution, the industry contribution to the economy climbed from 12.45% in Q4 2020 to 12.61% a year later.
