Mobile Telephony Subscriber Information

 

Vital Statistics

Presently, there are over 2,050,000 mobile subscribers (including GSM and analog mobile) in Nigeria representing a penetration rate of over 1.7% of the population[1]. Year-on-year growth is over 500% by December 2002. Mobile take-up exceeded the capacity of the operators in fourth quarter 2002, forcing the Big Three to suspend prepaid SIM pack sales. Fresh sales resumed in the second quarter of 2003. With the commencement of operations by Globacom in August 2003, all the licensed operators are effectively operational.


 Table 1: Nigeria GSM Statistics – Year End 2002[2][

 Over 44 towns and cities in 23 states now have mobile signals from one or more mobile operators, giving telephone access to over 16 million Nigerians[3] residing within these towns.

 

Mobile Subscribers
 

 Table 2: Summary Information on Installed Capacity and Subscribers 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

Dec-01

Mar-02

Jun-02

Aug-02

Feb-03

June-03

  

 

Capacity

300,000[4]

900,000

960,000

1,020,000

1,918,500

2,193,325[5]

  

[6]

Subscribers

266,461

668,000

843,629

1,137,088

1,740,376

2,050,000

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

% of Capacity

89%

74%

88%

111%

91%

95%

  

 

Growth Rate

 

150.7%

26.3%

34.8%

53.1%

20%

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Notes

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

1.   Figures in italics are best estimates.

 

 

 

 

  
 

 

2.  Table constructed using operator figures previously
     supplied.

 

 
                             
                             



Comparison with Fixed Networks

By December 2002, nearly two-thirds of all connected telephone lines in Nigeria were GSM mobile phones.

  

 

How GSM Ranks with Other Telephone Services

 
Fixed-Mobile Substitution

Mobile is reaching users previously without telephone access and growing much faster than the fixed line network. The general trend is towards fixed-mobile substitution, where subscribers are using mobile lines as substitutes for non-available (or relatively expensive[7]) fixed lines.

The substitution effect is driven largely by two key factors, namely:

  The difficulty to obtain a fixed line given the under-serviced nature of the telecoms market.
  The lack of credit-worthiness of a large segment of the population (and lack of formal credit histories) makes prepaid mobile
     the only way in which people can be served.
 

 

[1] As at February 2003. A member of the population may subscribe to more than one mobile network. Each mobile subscriber does not therefore automatically translate to a unique member of the population.
[2] Information in Table is valid as at December 2002.
[3] Source: Nigeria Data Bank ……….
[4] Estimate.
[5] Estimate.
[6] The percentage of mobile subscribers who use their handsets for airtime resale in business centers and phone kiosks is unknown. This category of users may have extended mobile access to a large proportion of the population, as one line may actually be serving several users.
 [7] Acquisition costs only.