The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says 224,713,710 active voice subscribers were recorded in the fourth quarter of 2023.

According to NBS, this shows an increase of 0.96 per cent compared to the 222,571,568 reported in the fourth quarter of 2022.

This is contained in the NBS Telecoms Data: Active Voice and Internet per State, Porting and Tariff Information report for Q4 2023, released in Abuja on Friday.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the report showed that active voice subscribers increased by 1.32 per cent from the 221,769,883 recorded in Q3 2023.

Also, the report revealed that 163,838,439 active internet subscribers were recorded in Q4 of 2023 compared to the 154,847,901 reported in Q4 of 2022.

“This represents a 5.81 per cent increase in active internet subscriptions year-on-year.

“While on a quarter-on-quarter basis, active internet subscribers grew by 2.29 per cent from the 160,171,125 recorded in Q3 of 2023,’’ it stated.

On state-by-state analysis, the report showed that Lagos state had the highest number of active voice subscribers in Q4 2023 with 26,739,346, followed by Ogun with 13,070,779 and Kano with 12,325,633.

“On the other hand, Bayelsa still recorded the least number of 1,557,786 voice subscribers, followed by Zamfara and Gombe with 2,772,424 and 2,785,030, respectively, ” it stated.

Similarly, the report said Lagos state had the highest number of active internet subscribers in Q4 2023 with 18,927,446, followed by Ogun with 9,570,463 and Kano with 9,031,581.

“On the other hand, Bayelsa recorded the least number of internet subscribers with 1,193,525, followed by Zamfara and Gombe with 1,959,252 and 2,100,073, respectively,” the bureau stated.

The NBS report showed that MTN maintained its status quo as the telecommunication service provider with the highest share of subscriptions in Q4 2023.

(NAN)