Pascal Oparada
Amid the Coronavirus lockdown across many states in Nigeria, the biggest beneficiaries are the telecom companies who are smiling to the bank with megabucks.
As more people stay indoors, one of the things they do is surf the web for the latest information on the Coronavirus pandemic.
Data from Google Trends show a spike in internet data subscription by Nigerians as they seek to stay abreast of events.
Surprisingly, Airtel Nigeria leads the other three telecom companies in an increase in mobile data subscription.
According to the data, more people subscribed to Airtel Data in the last seven days, followed by Globacom Nigeria, 9Mobile and MTN respectively.
Airtel’s dominance comes as the mobile company slashed the price of internet data which makes it very affordable to subscribers. It has also entered into strategic partnerships with some companies.
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On voice calls, MTN leads with more people using the network for voice calls rather than mobile data.
Many subscribers pooled complained of the exorbitant cost of MTN mobile data.
Despite Glo’s mega data giveaway, subscribers complain of poor network and connection issues.
Also, Data from Google Trends show that Lagos has the highest number of subscribers of internet data as subscriptions saw the state leading by 56 per cent, followed by Kano and Zamfara states.
More people in Kano use Airtel than they use the other four networks, while more people in Port-Harcourt, Owerri and Cross River states use MTN Glo and 9Mobile respectively.
On fixed networks, Spectranet leads the pack followed by Smile and Swift Mobile networks respectively.
Spectranet’s dominance is mainly concentrated in Lagos while Smile seems to have a better spread than the other two networks surveyed.
More people use Spectranet in Ogun, Oyo, Rivers and the FCT than any other networks.
Analysts believe more Nigerians would consume more mobile data as the lockdown and self-isolation continue in the days ahead.