Nigeria records 37% penetration for 4G deployment  – Olusola Teniola

The President, Association of Telecommunications companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Olusola Teniola has disclosed that 4G deployment in Nigeria has hit 37%.

The ATCON President, who made the disclosure yesterday while speaking with Arise Television’s Global Business Report revealed that with the current digital economy policy in place as well as the recently launched National Broadband Plan (NBP) 2020-2025, 4G technology will be deploy to every local government area in Nigeria.

He also stressed that by the end of 2025, 4G deployment will hit 90 per cent coverage, therefore, translate to broadband penetration, that is, people penetration, 70 per cent by 2025.

4G is the fourth generation of mobile phone communications standards. It is a successor of the 3G and provides ultra-broadband internet access for mobile devices. The high data transfer rates make 4G networks suitable for use in USB wireless modems for laptops and even home internet access.

Investigations carried out by Business Remarks revealed that network coverage technology in Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, and other parts of Africa, is still 3G, with 79 per cent penetration.

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU), which revealed this in its 2019 ICT Facts and Figures report, said more than 95 per cent of the population in Asia and the Pacific, Europe, and the Americas is covered by a 3G or higher network.

In the Arab states, ITU said 91 per cent of the population is covered by a 3G or higher network, while in the CIS region coverage is 88 per cent, followed by Africa at 79.5 per cent.

In other words, 1G, 2G, and 4G networks control have the remaining 20.5 per cent coverage.

Jumia Mobile Report also claimed that 44 per cent of mobile subscribers in Nigeria are using 3G technology and four per cent are using 4G technology as compared to over 18 per cent 4G penetration in South Africa and 16 per cent in Angola.

Further findings revealed that Nigeria, at the end of June 2019, had a 33.31% internet penetration rate, exceeding the 30% penetration target set by the National Broadband Plan of 2013 to 2018. However, currently, 44% of mobile subscribers in Nigeria use 3G technology and 4% use 4G technology.

According to media reports, Nigeria’s mobile broadband penetration is forecast to rise to 55% by 2025, with 70% having 3G connectivity and 17% having access to 4G networks.

Also, the Digital 2020 Global Overview Report show that there were 85.49 million internet users in Nigeria in January 2020.

According to the report, the number of internet users in Nigeria increased by 2.2 million (+2.6%) between 2019 and 2020 with internet penetration in Nigeria standing at 42% in January 2020.

The report also noted that 169.2 million Nigerians have mobile (phone) connections in January 2020. This represents 83 percent penetration of the total population of 203.6 million people, of which 50 percent live in urban areas.

However, Statatics from Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) states that as at August 2019, 2G subscriptions stood 122.9 million, corresponding to 64.42 per cent of the population. 3G subscription, accounts for  49.7 million, representing  26.03 per cent of the population while 4G accounts for a paltry 17.3 million subscriptions representing 9.07 per cent of the population.

Broadband penetration, according to the regulator stood at 38.49% in January 2020 while the number of active telephony subscription hits  186,023, 609 and the total number of Internet subscribers stood at 128,723,188 in January 2020.

The Commission said it is actively exploring the utilisation of television white space (TVWS) technology to expand affordable broadband services to rural areas, to complement the efforts of the Infrastructure Compananies (InfraCos)  it issued licences recently.

The InfraCos are expected  to deploy fibre across the geopolitical zones with Access Points in all the 774 local government areas of the Federation.