Data is on the verge to take over voice revenue from Airtel and MTN. Both telcos companies have generated a combined N739 billion in revenues between June and September 2022.
The combined revenues represent a 19.9% growth from the N615.9 billion reported same period in 2021. Data from the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) suggest that Nigerians recorded 175 billion minutes in outgoing calls. It also recorded 86 billion incoming calls in 2021.
Data To Take Over Voice Revenue: The Last Five Years
Data growth has been remarkable over the last five years because of the scale o cheaper smartphones in the country. However, social media apps such as WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube have taken over and have increased Nigerian use.
The total amount of data consumed by subscribers increased to 353,118.89TB as of December 2021 from 209,917.40TB as of December 2020. This represents an increase of 68.2% in data consumption within the period. There was also an increase from last year.
MTN And Airtel Report
Speaking on its report, MTN said its data rose by 49.1% due to increased subscribers and data usage in 2022, while its data traffic grew by 70.6% YoY. Not only that, its data usage (MB per user) rose by 52.2%.
Airtel reported similar data revenue increased by 26.7% in constant currency. This is driven by data customer base growth of 13.5% and data ARPU growth of 9.1%. Its data usage per user is 4.8 GB per month.
“In Q2’23, 4G data usage per customer reached 8.3 GB per month as compared with 5.4 GB in the prior period with 4G data usage contributing to 79.5% of total data usage,” Airtel said
Another Cause For the Increase
The increase is likely associated with Nigeria’s smartphone density. MTN recorded Smartphone penetrations of about 52%.
Airtel on the other hand reported smartphone penetration of 1.5% points that 35.1%.
Since the pandemic, data voice has advanced in the internet ranging from social media, streaming apps, investment apps, etc.
The central bank’s aim to deepen financial inclusion and cashless payment is contributing to an increment in data use.
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