Despite some technical challenges associated with fibre optic cables deployment across the country, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has reported a surging trend in telecom subscribers’ migration to the 4G network, with the rate in January this year surging to 31.75% percent.
The telecom industry regulatory commission in its latest report on network adoption rate in the country indicated that the January 2024 4G network subscription represented 0.42% growth when compared to the 31.33% rate recorded in December 2023.
The commission clarified that despite the fact that more subscribers were migrating to the stronger networks, 2G network remained the most adopted with 57.78% of subscribers linked to it while 9.36% were still using 3G during the period under review.
The industry report also reflected that 5G network remained the least adopted by telecom subscribers. in the country with only 1.11% of telecom subscribers using the more robust technological network as of January 2024,.
According to the report, 5G adoption rate grew by 0.07% from 1.04% recorded as of the end of December 2023, indicating a steady slow growth rate from 0.12 per cent in May 2023 to 1.11 per cent in January 2024.
The data from the commission further showed that while 4G and 5G networks’ market share recorded minimal growth, 2G and 3G networks adoption rate declined from 57.84% and 9.80% in December 2023 to 57.78% and 9.36% as of January 2024 respectively.
It would be recalled that the leading MNO, MTN Nigeria, reported in its 2023 audited financial statement that its 4G network coverage reached 81.5% from 79.1% recorded in December 2022 with 5G standing then at 11.3%.
