Nigeria’s telephone penetration hits 100 per cent mark, says NCC

Nigeria’s teledensity, also known as telephone penetration, has finally hit a 100 per cent mark.

This is contained in the Nigerian Communications Commission's (NCC) Monthly Subscriber Data.

According to the data, the country’s teledensity stands at 100.59 per cent, as at the end of Jan. 2015, as the active lines/phone numbers on the telecommunications operators' networks reach 140.82million

Teledensity measures the percentage of a country’s population with access to telephony services as determined by the active subscriber base.

It has a direct relationship with the number of mobile subscriptions on telecoms networks as it grows as subscriber base does and vice versa.

According to the NCC, teledensity is calculated based on population estimate of 126 million up till Dec. 2005; from Dec. 2006, it was based on a population estimate of 140 million.

From Dec. 2001 to 2006, teledensity was based on connected subscribers.

However, teledensity from Dec. 2007 has been based on active subscriptions on mobile networks.

The data showed that the industry teledensity stood at 91.40 per cent as at Jan. 2014, hence increased by 9.19 per cent to reach 100.59 per cent by Jan. 2015.

In Feb. 2014, it moved up to 91.40 per cent; 92.14 per cent in March and at the end of April, the figure declined to 90.78 per cent.

In May, June and July, the figures moved to 92.42 per cent; 93.70 per cent and 94.84 per cent respectively.

In August and September, telephony penetration increased to 95.20 per cent and 96.08 per cent, it increased to 96.87 per cent in October, 97.60 per cent and 99.32 in Dec. 2014.

The proportional growth in teledensity showed that access to telephone services was getting deeper.