Data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has shown that active subscriptions for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) Service in Nigeria increased 3.5% to 354,449 between January and October this year.

As of December 2021, subscriptions to the service, also called IP Telephony or Internet Telephony, amounted to 342,473.

only one winner: While two operators are playing in the VoIP market in Nigeria, namely Smile Communications and Ntel, only Smile gained more subscriptions in the period under review. The company gained 19,294 new signups in the period, bringing the total signups to 333,968 in October this year from 314,674 in December 2021.

Ntel, on the other hand, lost 7,315 customers in the period under review, bringing its total subscriptions to 20,481 from 27,799 in December last year.

NCC data showed that Ntel, which joined the VoIP segment in January 2017, became the largest operator by subscriptions in just four months, as its active subscriptions reached 61,817 in April 2017, while Smile it came in second with 42,308 subscriptions. However, Ntel has lost most of its subscribers in the last 5 years.

What you should know: The VoIP service allows its users to communicate seamlessly over the Internet without the need for phones. However, subscription to this service is still very low in Nigeria.

  • VoIP service remained one of the least subscribed in the Nigerian telecom market. According to NCC data, GSM technology represents 99.84% of the market share in terms of subscriptions as of October 2022, leaving the VoIP service with 0.12% and the fixed wired service with 0.05%. of market share.
  • Analysts attributed low VoIP subscriptions in Nigeria to the proliferation of Over-the-Top (OTT) services such as Whatsapp and Facebook, among several others, which also enable voice and video calls over the Internet. This means that with a data subscription, which is mostly carried out on mobile networks, subscribers can make calls using OTT platforms.
  • The adoption of Voice over IP is seen in various industries across the globe, especially in developing regions to meet their growing demand for daily business activities. With its real-time communication services, it has helped organizations in various industries reduce communication costs.
  • The global VoIP market was valued at $77.4 billion in 2018 and is expected to reach $93.2 billion by the end of 2024, growing at a CAGR of 3.1% between 2019 and 2024.