FG Sets New Rule for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram As MTN, Airtel Make Over N272bn From Data Sales in 3 Months

• Telecommunication operators in Nigeria are have recorded huge revenue from data sales in three months
• MTN, Airtel, cumulatively made over N272 billion, a 30 percent increase when compared to the previous year
• Tech companies such as Facebook and Twitter, among others, have enjoyed increased traffic from Nigeria thanks to the growing number of internet users

Telecommunications operators Airtel Nigeria and MTN have both reported huge data revenue from Nigerians between April 2021 and June 2022.

The companies together reported that they made a whopping N272 billion from data sales.

This was driven by the continuous increase in data consumption thanks to the growth in social media users in the country.

A breakdown of the two companies' data sales

According to data obtained from Airtel financials submitted to the Nigerian Exchange, Airtel raked in N87.2 billion ($210 million) from data service alone in the three months under review.

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Airtel reports that data usage per customer on the network jumped from 3.8 GB per month in the same quarter last year to 4.6 GB this year.

This represents a 19.1% increase in consumption by the customers.

The company added that 4G data usage per customer reached 7.4 GB per month, an increase of 45.6% from 5.1 GB per customer per month in Q1’22.

MTN

On its part, telecommunication Gaint also reported in its financials that Nigerians in its network spent over N185.54 billion on data from April to June 2022.

This is an increase from N122.8 it reported in the same period of 2021.

MTN also noted that since the start of the year Nigerians have consumed N348.234 billion worth of data.

Meanwhile, the federal government has announced new regulations for Internet platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Tik tok others operating in Nigeria.

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Hadiza Umar, the spokesman for the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), noted that the new code was designed to define guidelines for interacting on the digital ecosystem.

BBC reports that the code demands that Internet platforms should register with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and appoint a designated country representative to interface with Nigerian authorities.

NITDA also added that

“The internet platforms need to provide a comprehensive compliance mechanism to avoid publication of prohibited contents and unethical behaviour on their platform”.

List of 5G compatible phones as Nigeria set to roll out services in August

In another report, the Federal government of Nigeria has announced plans to begin the rollout of 5G network in the country

The roll-out will begin in August which will be exactly 8 months after the NCC the spectrum auction

Legit.ng provided insight on compatible phones for the expected 5G network to be rollout on Mafab communication and MTN Nigeria.

Source: Legit.ng