Nigeria’s telecommunication sector recorded a slow growth rate in the fourth quarter of 2021 as its GDP grew by 5.31% year-on-year in real terms, according to the Gross Domestic Product report of the NBS.

According to the report, the sector’s 5.31% growth in the review period represents a 10.59% depreciation when compared to 17.64% recorded in the corresponding period of 2020. In the same vein, Nigeria’s information and communication sector recorded a 5.03% growth in real terms in the same period.

The telecommunications sector had recorded significant growth in 2020 during the pandemic as Nigerians adoption of internet services surged as a result of the lockdown measure implemented by the federal government in order to curb the spread of the covid-19.

Nigerians had to do more of remote working and online surfing to ease themselves from the frustration of staying in-door all day. However, in December 2020, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) discontinued the registration of new sim cards, threatening to block all lines that were not linked to their NIN.

This resulted to a downtrend in the number of active subscribers in the country until the NCC lifted the ban later in April 2021. However, as at then, a number of subscriber base had been lost and telco activities impeded.

Meanwhile, the information and communication sector recorded a growth of 5.03% year-on-year in real terms, which is 8.16% points lower than the 14.95% recorded in Q4 2020. On an annual basis, the information and communication sector grew by 6.55% year-on-year.

The sector comprises four activities of Telecommunications and Information Services which includes: Publishing, Motion Picture, Sound Recording and Music Production; and Broadcasting.

What you should know

In nominal terms, the telecommunication sector’s growth in Q4 2021 stood at 6.04% (year-on-year) indicating a 13.59% point decrease from the 19.63%% recorded in Q4 2020. It is also lower than the 12.74% growth recorded in the previous quarter.
The Quarter-on- Quarter growth rate stood at 15.8% in Q4 2021, while the annual growth stood at 6.18% in 2021.
In real terms, the sector accounted for 12.6% of the gross domestic product in 2021 compared to 12.2% recorded in the previous year.

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