Internet Users on GSM Rise to 70.3m- NCC

On Thursday, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said that the number of Internet users on the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) networks had increased to 70,307, 5011 in July, 2014. The NCC, which is the regulatory body of all GSM operators, disclosed this in its Monthly Internet Subscriber Data. The data revealed that there was a joint increase of 3,109,506 Internet users on all the networks in July, adding to the 67,197,505 users recorded in June, 2014. It showed that from the 70,307,011 Internet users recorded in July, MTN Nigeria led the table with 35,464,669 customers browsing the Internet on its network. It stated that MTN had an increase of 1,519,682 Internet subscribers in July, after it recorded 33,944,987 users in the month of June. According to the data, Globacom is second on the Internet usage table, recording 15,354,094 subscribers browsing the net with the network in July. It said that Globacom gained a total of 982,702 additional internet users on its network, up from 14,371,392 users in June. Airtel Nigeria, was third on the roll with 12,562,495 internet users in July, as against 12,052,455 customers recorded in June. The data also showed that Airtel Nigeria gained additional 510,040 Internet users on its network in July. It disclosed that Etisalat was last on the table with 6,925,753 of its customers browsing the internet in July, against the 6,828,671 users in June. It said that Etisalat increased its internet users by 97,082 in the month of July. The NCC data showed that Multi-Links and Visafone had a joint total of 156,011 Internet users on their networks in July. It showed that the only surviving two CDMA networks in the country listed a loss of 170 internet subscribers in July, from the 156,181 users they recorded in June. However, Visafone on its part, according to the statement, recorded an increase of 373 customers surfing the internet in July, amounting to 153,292 compared to the 152,919 users in the month of June. It said that Multi-Links had 2,719 Internet users in July, hence losing 643 customers from the June record of 3,262. The data showed that Nigerians are gradually embracing data as the next revolution in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector. Source: NAN