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The National Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday put the subscriber base of the mobile telecommunications sector at 143.05 million as of the end of the first quarter of 2015.
The bureau, in a report for the telecoms sector, a copy of which was made available to our correspondent, said the sector recorded a significant growth from 2.27 million subscribers in 2002, when the first mobile license was issued, to 143.05 million.
Out of the four telecoms providers, MTN dominated the number of subscriptions with 61.21 million subscribers or 42.84 per cent of the total.
Globacom with 30.03 million representing 21 per cent followed, while Airtel with a subscriber base of 28.6 million or 20.4 per cent and Etisalat with 22.3 million or 15.69 per cent followed in that order respectively.
In terms of contribution to the economy, the report said the telecoms sector in real terms recorded a growth rate of 5.26 per cent in the opening quarter of this year with a contribution of N134bn to economic output.
It said annual growth in the sector averaged 46.29 per cent between 2002 and 2014, with the highest rate recorded in 2004 at 153.65 per cent while the lowest rise of 8.53 per cent was recorded in 2011.
It said, “Since May 2014, monthly growth in GSM subscribers has averaged 0.95 per cent with the greatest increase being recorded in December 2014 at 1.97 per cent and the lowest in July of the same year at 0.43 per cent.
“The growth in subscribers was mainly driven by Globacom, which recorded an average rate of 1.45 per cent over the period, followed by Etisalat with 1.37 per cent and Airtel with 1.29 per cent while MTN recorded the lowest average monthly growth in subscribers at 0.44%.”
The greatest monthly growth rate of the four networks, according to the report, was recorded for Globacom in July 2014 in which the number of subscribers increased by 1.63 million or 6.37 per cent, while the lowest rate was recorded for Airtel with a total value of 436,260 or 1.72 per cent in July.
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