The number of telecoms subscribers in the country declined by 4,562,862 in the last six months. The latest statistics from the Nigerian Communications Commission have shown.
According to statistics obtained from the regulatory agency, a total of 152,123,172 subscribed to telecommunications services by the end of November 2015. However, by the end of April 2016, the total number of active subscribers had declined to 147,560,310.
This translates to a decline of 4,562,862 lines or 2.99 per cent within a period of six months. In simple terms, 4.6 subscribers dumped their phones within the period of six months.
Subscribers to the Global System for Mobile telecommunications networks accounted for 149,787,120 lines by the end of November 2015. But the number had declined to 146,866,356 by the end of April 2016. This means that the GSM subscribers accounted for 2,920,764 of the decline.
Active mobile Code Division Multiple Access subscription, on the other hand, declined from 2,149,120 lines in November 2015 to 525,743 by the end of April. This means that within the period, a total of 1,623,377 CDMA subscribers dumped their lines. It also translates to a decline rate of 75.54 per cent.
Within the same period of time, fixed lines declined from 186,772 lines to 176,211. This translates to a decline of 10,561 or 5.65 per cent.
The statistics reflect the decline that has been the fortune of the CDMA operators in recent years. Most of the CDMA operators have either folded up or have been acquired by other concerns with Visafone recently acquired by GSM giant, MTN Nigeria Communications Limited.
However, the decline in subscription to the GSM networks may be an indication that telecommunications service in the country may be reaching the saturation point.
