LAGOS, Ogun, and Kano states lead the list of states in Nigeria with the highest number of Internet subscribers, according to the 2022 data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The three states account for 23.8 per cent of the total Internet subscriber base in the country as of March 2022.

A breakdown of top states by Internet subscribers shows that Lagos State, the economic hub of the nation, has 17.84 million subscribers, followed by Ogun, 8.54 million and Kano, 8.36 million.

Others include Oyo, 7.52 million Internet subscribers, Abuja, 7.11 million, Kaduna, 6.78 million, Rivers, 5.21 million, Delta, 5.13 million, Edo, 5.08 million and Niger 4.65 million.

A further check reveals that on a year-on-year basis Abuja had the highest Internet subscriber increase with 487,197 subscribers at 7.7 million, followed by Anambra, and Lagos with 286,143 and 248,314 additional subscribers, respectively.

Internet subscribers in Nigeria increased marginally by 0.62 per cent year-on-year basis to 145.85 million in March compared to 144.95 million subscribers recorded in the same period in 2021.

MTN Nigeria, Glo and Airtel led the list of telcos with the highest Internet customer base with 60.7 million, 39.57 million and 39.4 million subscribers, respectively.

However, Airtel recorded the highest number of customer departures in the first quarter of the year, with MTN receiving the most in the reviewed quarter.

A total of 6,393 airtel subscribers ported out in the first quarter of 2022, while 1,452 new subscribers ported to MTN.

In 2020 the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) suspended the registration of new SIM cards directing telcos to link National Identification Numbers (NIN) to their mobile subscribers.

However, the sudden policy reversed the record-making growth recorded in the sector in 2020, as the Internet subscriber base rose from 28.2 million to over 154 million subscribers in two years.