Nigerians 'spend $13bn' on phone calls and SMS

Nigerians 'spend $13bn' on phone calls and SMS
Simnikiwe Mzekandaba
By Simnikiwe Mzekandaba, IT in government editor
, 11 Apr 2013
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Nigerians spent $13.7 billion on phone calls and text messages over a two year period, according to a research report.

The report compiled by the research arm of investment banking and asset management group, FBN Capital Limited, says that active telecoms lines increased by 19% year-on-year to 113.2 million.

“Nigerians spent an estimated $13.7 billion on calls and SMS's between January 2011 and December 2012," read the report.

“This rate of expansion compares very favourably with annual demographic growth, which the United Nations estimates at 2.4% and the Federal Government of Nigeria at more than 3%," it continued.

Nigeria's population is pegged at 162 million, according to the World Bank.

The report further adds that Nigerian mobile operators see more business opportunities in the data services space, and are investing to tap into an emergent cash base in the telecoms sector.

"The operators have not exhausted the pool of potential new subscribers,” stated the report.

According to BuddeComm research, Nigeria has over 100 million mobile subscribers and market penetration of over 63%.

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