MTN and Airtel, two of the leading telecommunications companies in Nigeria, have revealed that Nigerians spent at least N2.6tn on data and airtime in the first nine months of 2023.
This information was disclosed in the financial statements of both MTN Nigeria and Airtel Africa.
News About Nigeria gathered that the N2.6tn expenditure marks a 32.57 per cent increase from the N1.95tn recorded by both telecommunication companies from both income sources in the first nine months of 2022.
Both MTN and Airtel noted that the increase in voice and data revenue was partially driven by the rising cost of data subscriptions and, on Airtel’s part, the devaluation of the naira.
Speaking on the growth of the company, MTN stated that the increase in data revenue was a result of an uptick in usage and data conversion in both new and existing customer bases, amounting to a 36.4 per cent addition.
The firm also reported that data usage on its network grew by 29.1 per cent during the period under review, and the number of smartphones on its network increased by 7.6 per cent, bringing smartphone penetration to 53.4 per cent.
Similarly, Airtel noted that data revenue grew by 29.3 per cent in constant currency, driven by growth in the data customer base and data ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) growth.
According to the firm, their ongoing 4G network rollout has resulted in nearly 100 per cent of all their sites delivering 4G services.
Data consumption, however, is forecast to be the leading edge for the growth of the telecom industry and is expected to continue surging.
