Internet Service Providers spend N71.20b on operating expenses

Nigeria’s Internet Service Providers (ISPs) spent N71.20 billion operating expenditure (opex) and posted total revenue of N92.08 billion in 2022, it was gathered at the weekend.

According to data analysis prepared by telecom sector regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), during the period under review, a total of 34,862 towers were recorded from telecom operators across the country while the operators also reported a total number of 127,294 base transceiver stations (BTS).

The document, entitled: “2022 Subscriber/Network Data Annual Report”, prepared by the Policy Competition and Economic Analysis Department at NCC, which is the latest document from the Commission, also showed that total operating cost aside ISPs, but including global system for mobile communication (GSM); fixed wired; value added services (VAS); collocation and infrastructure sharing; and other telecom operators stood at N2,092,815,085,166. While GSM recorded the highest opex at N1,996,659,000,000, collocation and infrastructure sharing recorded the least with N3,183,579,969.37.

VAS recorded opex of N14,914,146,598 while fixed wired recorded N 841,738,077.

ISPs are confronting huge challenges as they continue to lose customers to mobile giants such as MTN, Globacom, Airtel, and 9mobile.

While the stiff competition has remained a cause of concern from the mobile network operators, their business models too have been blamed for the declining fortunes.

The era of Universal Access Service Licence (UASL), perhaps, was the last straw that broke the camel’s back as the licence conferred ISPs status on the MNOs.

The document further showed that microwave coverage recorded during the year stood at 289,270.48km with a total number of 125 Gateways in use in the industry.

Similarly, fibre optics cable deployment stood at 96,198 km (terrestrial fibre and submarine cable)

The fibre optic network technology is accepted in the telecom sector because it is the fastest and most widely used medium of backhaul transmission that offers the required capacity and capability to meet the required telecoms needs of customers, providing enhanced features and advantages that are superior to copper-based and wireless backhaul transmission options.

In the prepaid and post-paid mobile voice subscriptions during the period under review, total prepaid Mobile Voice subscriptions increased from 189,509,350 in December 2021 to 215,345,361 in the same month in 2022, indicating an increase of 13.63 per cent in prepaid mobile voice subscriptions.

It also showed that post-paid mobile voice subscriptions increased from 5,848,163 in December, 2021 to 7,129,211 as at December, 2022 indicating an increase of 21.9per cent growth in post-paid

In summary, the above analysis indicates that about 96.8per cent of mobile subscribers are prepaid subscribers while only about 3.2per cent are post-paid.