Telcos Raked in N5.3trn Revenue, Subscriber Base Hits 224m in 2023

Emma Okonji

Telecommunications operators (Telcos) earned as much as N5.3 trillion in revenue from telecoms service offerings, which included voice and data services in 2023.

This was as telecoms subscriptions reached 224 million in 2023, up from 222 million in 2022.

This was revealed yesterday by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in its 2023 year-end performance report titled: “2023 Subscriber/Network Performance Report.”

A breakdown of the earned revenue showed that GSM operators earned N4 trillion; Fixed wired – N273, 010, 222.21; Internet Service Providers (ISPs) – N89, 806, 249, 295.90; Value Added Service Providers (VAS) – N14, 559, 978,522.80; Collocation and Infrastructure Sharing operators earned N1.14 trillion and others operators combined earned N41, 841,310, 710.39, totalling N5. 3 trillion

According to the NCC report, the telecoms industry’s contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rose to 14 percent from 13.55 per cent within the period under review, while active subscribers number also increased from 222, 571, 568 in 2022 to 224,713, 710 as of December 2023, with subscribers’ data consumption exceeding 713 terabytes.

The report further explained that the telecoms market witnessed a rise in all financial segments of the market with CAPEX topping N990, 550,601,501.73, representing domestic investments, while operating cost among telecoms operators in the country was N3, 158, 403, 767, 328.48.

Citing figures from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the report stated that capital inflow in the form of foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Nigerian telecoms sector in 2023 was approximately $134,754, 819.27 as against $399, 905, 531. 38 as of 2022.

“Across the telecoms market, the number of active subscribers grew from 222, 571,568 subscriptions in 2022 to 224,713, 710 active voice subscriptions as of December 2023, representing an increase of 2.14 million subscriptions and 0.96 per cent growth in active subscriptions year-on-year,” the report stated.

The increase in the operators’ subscriber base was attributed to subscriber loyalty, promos, aggressive consumer acquisition drive and competitive product offerings across all the networks.

Also, the subscription growth was attributed to a mix of factors, including increased data consumption, subscriber growth and substantial investments in infrastructure by operators.

“The increase in subscriber base is attributed to high volumes of subscriber activation and reactivation drive of efficient customer retention management strategies and an increase in new subscriber additions within the period under review,” the report stated.

According to the report, during the year, tele-density declined as a result of adjustments in population estimates.

Tele-density was 103.61 percent in 2023 as against 116.60 percent recorded in 2022, which indicated a decrease of 11.10 percent in tele-density as of December 2023.