Instant messaging leads with 94% usage, reflecting its role as the primary communication tool for Nigerians.
Social media is used by 91% of mobile internet users, but only 65% engage with it for business purposes, showing its dominance in personal interactions.
Online voice and video calls are highly popular, emphasising a shift toward real-time digital communication.
Only 45% access government services, while 41% use online health platforms, indicating gaps in essential digital services.
Agriculture-related internet use is the lowest at 25%, highlighting the rural digital divide and limited online resources for the sector.
Nigerians aged 10 years and above in the South-South region have three times more access to the internet (42%) compared to those in the North-West (14%).
The cost of accessing the Internet isn't the same everywhere. In Switzerland, 1GB of mobile data costs $7.29, the most expensive globally, while Nigeria stands at just $0.38, which is 15 times less than the cost in the United States ($6.00). Meanwhile, Israel offers the cheapest deal at only $0.02 per GB. There is a more moderate global average at $2.59.
In 2022, only 11.3% of Burundi's population was using the Internet. As of 2023, the East African nation had an adult population of over 7 million and less than 3,000 fixed broadband subscriptions and 8.65 million mobile lines. Burundi's fixed broadband subscriptions grew from only 160 in 2009 to 2,790 in 2023, peaking at 4,230 in 2020 before a decline.
Internet subscribers in Nigeria increased by 4.3% from 157.6m in March 2023 to 164.4m as of March 2024, an addition of 6.817m new subscribers. Lagos State has the largest share of active internet subscribers in Nigeria, but Nasarawa gained the most new subscribers in one year.
assarawa (604k) got the most new subscribers between Q1 2023 and Q1 2024, followed by Niger (456k) and Kano (387k). Benue (368k) and Kwara (315k) also saw impressive subscriber growth. Bauchi, Taraba, Katsina, Adamawa, and Kogi completed the top ten.
A country with strong infrastructure, affordable services, and high digital literacy, enabling everyone to use fast and reliable mobile internet will have a perfect score (100) on the GSMA's Mobile Connectivity Index 2023. South Africa leads in Africa with 69.53.
Globally, Singapore is first, with a score of 93.7, setting the benchmark for mobile internet adoption. Only four African countries — South Africa, Mauritius, Seychelles, and Egypt — surpassed the global average score.
Tunisia, Ghana, and Nigeria scored below the global average.
The Mobile Connectivity Index analysed measured 173 countries' mobile internet adoption from 2014-2023, normalising indicators to a 0-100 scale for consistency. The factors assessed include infrastructure, affordability, digital literacy, and policy frameworks.
Surfshark's data reveals that 17.2b online accounts have been compromised globally since 2004, with African countries accounting for 250.7m (1.45%).
South Sudan has the highest number of breached online accounts in Africa, with over 89 million compromised accounts.
South Africa and Egypt follow with 0.2% and 0.13% of the global figure, respectively. Nigeria ranks fourth with 19.3 million breaches.
Although Africa's share of global breaches is relatively low, the potential harm is significant. Recently, unauthorised websites reportedly sold Nigerians' data, including NIN, BVN, and driver's licenses, for as little as ₦100.
These breaches pose serious privacy, financial security, and national safety risks, calling our attention to the urgent need for robust data protection measures.
In Q4 2023, Spectranet maintained its top position as Nigeria's biggest internet service provider with nearly 114k active subscribers, holding 43% of the market share. FiberOne followed with 10% of the market.
Starlink increased its subscriber base by 113% to claim the 3rd position with 9% of the market.
Here are Nigeria's top internet service providers by active subscribers in Q4 2023.
As of the end of September 2023, Starlink Nigeria had amassed a customer base of 11,207 active subscribers, growing 66% from 6,756 in June. It placed 4th in the market after Spectranet (113,747), Tizeti Network (19,126), and ipNX Nigeria (14,871).
