With
63 million internet users available in Nigeria, the country has been ranked
number 1 in Africa and eight in the world in terms of internet usage. This was
disclosed by the second edition of digitalfacts – Nigeria,
West & Central Africa; a publication produced by digitXplus.
The
book stated that the following 15 countries have the highest number of internet
users in the world: China (632 million); USA (269 m); India (198m); Japan
(110m); Brazil (105m); Russia (87m); Indonesia (83m); and Germany (68m). Others
are: Nigeria (63m); UK (57m); France (54m); Mexico (52m); Iran (49m); Egypt
(43m) and South Korea (42m).
The
publication revealed that since 2011, Nigeria has maintained a steady upward
trend in the number of internet users. It stated that from 35.7 million, the
figure increased to 42.8 million; 51.8m; 57.7m and 63.2m internet users in
2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015; respectively.
Digitalfacts
puts the total number of internet users worldwide at 3.2 billion as at
December 2015; representing a whopping increase of 8.9% over 2.9 billion
internet users recorded at the end of 2014.
Based
on the regional statistics contained in the publication, Asia-Pacific had 1.6
billion internet users as at December 2015; while North America, Latin America,
Western Europe, Central/Eastern Europe and Middle East/Africa boasted of 288
million; 325 million; 310 million; 238 million; and 429 million; in that order.
The
book further made public that the Nigerian telecom sector, one of the largest
in Africa, is driven almost completely by mobile telephony. “Rapid expansion of
the wireless networks and competition has driven down voice tariffs and made
basic cellular services affordable, especially for the poorer rural
consumers,” digitalfacts stated.
It
also acknowledged that the relatively affluent urban middle classes
increasingly enjoy 3G and 4G LTE services; adding that consumers face issues
pertaining to service quality and network congestion while religious extremism
in the north of the country has affected infrastructure investments.
“The
fixed-line network is weak and fixed-broadband penetration is very low in large
parts of the country. The government has however come out with a National
Broadband Plan which aims to increase 3G and fixed-broadband coverage by 2018,
helped by an expanding fibre-optic network. A proliferation of local online
marketplaces and higher internet penetration in cities have resulted in strong
growth in e-commerce transactions”, the book stated.
However,
digitalfacts noted that the cloud computing segment of Nigeria’s economy offers
immense potential. It stated that e-government development lags behind global
peers and pay-TV penetration is extremely low in Nigeria. “An underdeveloped IT
infrastructure and high rural poverty and income inequality are key challenges
for the telecom sector”, the publication disclosed.
Patrick
Gomes, Chief Executive Officer, digitXplus, explained that most of the access
to internet in the region is through mobile devices. He said Facebook in the
West and Central Africa is almost 50m monthly active users; adding that the
numbers speak about the size and strength of digital as a medium, which
continues to grow year on year.
“At
digitXplus, we endeavour to bring information about the region to fore, we now
present the second edition of Digital Facts Book with an objective to organize
information on Digital medium in West & Central Africa, thus making it
easily accessible and useful to all”, Gomes stated.
To
download the free copy of Digital Facts Book, do visit: www.digitxplus.com.
Onoriode Akusu.
Social Media Strategist; Digital PR & Video Producer.
09090067560, 08032197169
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