The Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria has described the current subscriber figure as the true reflection of the number of subscribers in the telecommunications sector.
In an interview with our correspondent, ALTON’s Chairman, Gbenga Adebayo, said, “This is a true representation of the true number of subscribers that we have; we are the participatory subscribers. These are the genuine subscribers.”
However, he blamed this decline in the number of subscribers on the National Identity Number-Subscriber Identity Module data verification.
He said, “This is basically due to SIM and NIN integration. You know the process of acquisition became a lot more cumbersome, since the requirement for NIN before a SIM card can be obtained and for integration between the two.
“So, naturally that would distract the ‘in-and-out subscribers’; those who buy and churn would be discouraged. Those who are holding alternate devices, and do not have to subscribe to those devices would be discouraged too.
“And also, those who are using it to perpetrate acts that are against the common interest of the nation would be discouraged. The contraction is not unusual; we think what has caused the slowdown of growth is because of the requirement of NIN and SIM, and what this means is that the number that we are witnessing now are the good quality subscribers.”
The Nigeria National Coordinator for the Alliance for Affordable Internet, Olusola Teniola, said, “2021 numbers are showing that consumer spending is weakening the impact of affordability. And affordability is a very critical component especially as people are moving from 2G, which is voice, to 4G, which is being driven by access to the Internet and data services.
“A lot of users are now using over-the-top applications to make international calls and local domestic calls.”
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