The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says 221,769,883 active voice subscribers were recorded in Q3 of 2023.

According to NBS, this shows an increase of 4.51 per cent compared to the 212,201,578 reported in Q3 2022.

This is contained in the NBS Telecoms Data: Active Voice and Internet per State, Porting and Tariff Information report for Q3 2023, released in Abuja on Friday.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the report showed that active voice subscribers increased by 0.76 per cent from the 220,086,951 recorded in Q2 2023.

Also, the report revealed 160,171,125 active internet subscribers were recorded in Q3 of 2023 compared to the 152,784,980 in Q3 of 2022.

“This represents a 4.83 per cent increase in active internet subscriptions year-on-year.

“While on a quarter-on-quarter basis, active internet subscribers grew by 0.42 per cent from the 159,498,826 recorded in Q2 of 2023,’’ it stated.

On state-by-state analysis, the report showed that Lagos State had the highest number of active voice subscribers in Q3 2023 with 27,043,333, followed by Ogun with 13,136,247 and Kano with 12,192,122.

“On the other hand, Bayelsa recorded the least number of 1,558,509 voice subscribers, followed by Gombe and Yobe with 2,643,899 and 2,760,261, respectively,” it stated.

In addition, the report said Lagos State had the highest number of active internet subscribers in Q3 2023 with 19,188,745, followed by Ogun with 9,538,622 and Kano with 8,712,782.

“On the other hand, Bayelsa recorded the least no of internet subscribers with 1,195,580, followed by Zamfara and Gombe with 1,863,686 and 1,909,498, respectively,” the bureau stated.

The NBS report showed that MTN had the highest share of subscriptions in Q3 2023.

(NAN)