His explanation was hinged on the fact that an average Nigerian GSM user had at least two SIM cards from different service providers. He stated, “The average is three to four SIM cards per unique subscriber then the average will be between 75 million to 100 million with a SIM card.’’ This, he explained, was based on the calculation that one subscriber was assumed to have an average of three to four Subscriber Identification Module cards. Since it is common for an individual to own more than one GSM line, it is safe to conclude that the NCC figure of 187.8 million subscribers doesn’t mean there are 187.8 million individuals using GSM phones in the country.Īdebayo further said that the exact figure of Nigerians with GSM lines could be “between 75 million and 100 million.” They noted that the number could not be determined merely on the basis of the NCC figure of 187.8 million subscribers. Industry stated that it was difficult to tell the exact number of Nigerians who owned a mobile phone and those who didn’t. The Chairman, Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria, Mr Gbenga Adebayo, told Saturday PUNCH that being inactive meant that the 110 million GSM lines “are not being used for making or receiving calls.” Invariably, 110 million connected lines are currently inactive. It added that out of the connected lines, only 187.2 million were active as of June. The NCC noted that there were 297.2 million connected GSM lines in the country as of June this year.
Of these 187.8 million subscribers, MTN has the largest share with 73.1 million subscribers (39.01 per cent) followed by Globacom with 51.1 million subscribers (27.28 per cent) Airtel, 50.3 million subscribers (26.8 per cent) and 9mobile, 12.9 million subscribers (6.8 per cent).Īccording to the World Population Review, Nigeria’s current population is estimated at 212,928,804. MTN, which recently celebrated two decades of operating in Nigeria, noted on its website about how “the very first (mobile) phone call (was) made at Maritime House Apapa (Lagos) on May 16, 2001.”īetween then and now, million phone calls had been made as the number of GSM subscribers in the country grew to 187.8 million, according to statistics from the website of the Nigerian Communications Commission, the regulator of the country’s telecommunications sector. Two years after the arrival of Econet and MTN, Nigeria’s indigenous service provider, Globacom, followed in 2003, while Etisalat (9mobile) came in March 2008. It was in 2001–exactly 20 years ago– that GSM made an inroad into Nigeria, with the arrival of Zimbabwean telecommunications company, Econet (now Airtel), and MTN from South Africa. In reality, one can say Burguse and others in her class are living 20 years behind other Nigerians. She is one of the millions of Nigerians left behind while other citizens joined the rest of the world to communicate with families and friends through the Global System for Mobile Communication, which is one of the new modes of communication. There are times when the person whom the message is meant for will not get it till they come to the village.”īurguse’s situation sounded hard to believe in a country where mobile phones have become cheap and commonplace. As it is now, if I need to communicate with anyone in a faraway place, I will wait until I see someone who will help me convey the message. I have no mobile number of anyone and I wrote none down. If it is urgent, I look for anyone heading in that direction to help me convey the message to them.
I don’t have any biological children,” she added.Īsked what she often did if she had to communicate urgently with people in far places, Burguse said, “Since I don’t have a phone, I usually don’t try to communicate with people in far places all I do is wait to see them.
“I don’t have money to buy one and no one has given me one. “I have never owned a phone since GSM came to Nigeria,” the octogenarian said during a conversation. The grandma would have been called on a phone if she had one to find out where she was and to tell her she had visitors at her house.īut our correspondents and the interpreter had to approach a neighbour who told them to wait while he went in search of Burguse in the neighbourhood.įortunately, she was not too far away as she appeared a little while after.