The fifth Generation (5G) subscriptions in the country has increased to 2.3 million as at December 2023, from 500,000 recorded in September 2023, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has revealed.
The country’s total active subscriptions for telephone services, stood at 224.7 million at the end of the year, with 5G representing 1.4 per cent of that figure, amounting to 2.3 million.
So far, three mobile network operators, MTN, Airtel, and Mafab Communications have rolled out 5G in Nigeria.
According to NCC, most telephone connections in Nigeria were still on 2G as of December 2023. The industry data shows that 2G accounted for 57.84 per cent of all connections in Nigeria at the end of the year.
The telecom industry statistics further show that 9.80 per cent of the almost 225 million subscriptions were on 3G, a higher generation of network launched in Nigeria in 2007. 3G ushered in the use of video calls and had significantly higher data transfer, operating at a speed of up to 2mbs, and increased bandwidth compared to the 2G network.
The commission noted that, subscriptions for 4G, which the operators started rolling out in 2016 still stood at 31.33 per cent as of December. The data, however, shows that there has been a steady rise in 4G subscriptions as only 25.06 per cent of connections were on 4G as of May 2023.
