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After it peaked in October 2020 at 207,954,737, Nigeria’s telephony subscriptions witnessed a major decrease in the last five months.
As at February 2021, the total active telephony subscriptions are 196,078,494 representing a total decline of 11,876,243 within the period under review
Industry watchers are of the views that the present economic realities in the country are contributory to the decrease in the subscription rate.
Some believe that the ongoing NIN-SIM card linkage contributed largely to the decrease, especially during the period the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy suspended SIM activation either for new or lost SIMs.
One of the respondents, Solomon Salami said: “There are many variables that could cause the drop in active telephony subscriptions. Chief among the reasons is the harsh economic climate in the country. Is it not someone who is well fed that can maintain three to four lines?
“You will also understand that the Federal Government seems has been itching to leverage NIN-SIM integration to shore-up the intelligence for security of this nation. Some of those links might have been blocked if the agencies found out that they are used for nefarious activities,” Salami opined.
On her part, Adanma Uzodinma, said: “The Federal Government’s policy directing the Nigerian Communications Commission to enforce the suspension of sale, registration and activation of new SIM card was for good course but at the same time harsh on businesses. You can image what a small business owner whose transactions are dependent on SIM card(s) would have faced. Many others lost their SIMs due to phone theft, misplacement and other reasons and they could not retrieve them. So, it is possible that now the SIM registration has been continued that the numbers will improve from this month (April 2021)”.
The decrease in telephony subscription affected the teledensity. Since March 2019, teledensity is calculated based on a population estimate of 190 million, up from 140 million previously used.
During the period under review, teledensity reduced from 108.94% to 102.72%, representing a difference of 6.22%.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has lifted a ban on the sale, activation and registration of SIM cards. The government has mandated the telecommunication network operators to adhere to the newly released revised Policy on SIM Card registration and usage.
This was based on the feedback received from the security agencies following the successful revalidation of improperly registered SIM cards in September 2019 and the blocking of those that failed to revalidate their SIMs.
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