The amount is equivalent to the estimated voice revenue accrued to telecoms operators, ranging from the Global System for Mobile operators, the Code Division Multiple Access operators and the fixed lines operators, during the period, spanning January to June
National Mirror calculations are based on the industry Average Revenue per User, ARPU, in Nigeria as published in recent report by the Business Monitor International Limited.
BMI, in the report titled: “Nigeria Telecommunication Report Quarter 2, 2012” pegged the country’s mobile ARPU estimate at N1, 011.
ARPU is the financial benchmark used globally by telecoms companies to measure the average monthly or yearly revenue generated from an average subscriber.
According to investigation, cumulative spending by the over 102 million active subscribers for the first six months of 2012 was conservatively valued at N606.2bn.
In analysing the telecoms spending, the mobile ARPU rate was multiplied by the monthly industry subscriber data released by the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, from January to June 2012.
According to the telecoms regulator data, industry’s subscriber base stood at 96.1 million at the end of January 2012. With an ARPU rate of N1,011, Nigerians telecoms consumers were estimated to have spent about N97.1bn.
In February and March when the subscriber base stood at 96.6 million and 99.1 million, Nigeria’s telephone users spent an estimated N97.6bn and N100.1bn respectively.
The subscriber spending graduated to N102.1bn in April, when subscriber base stood at 101 million; N102.9bn in May with industry subscriber base at 101.8 million, while in June, with a subscriber base of 102.3 million, the estimated spending on phone calls reached N103.4bn.
With the half year spending of Nigerians on telecoms services reaching N603.2bn, industry analysts say telecommunications service has become a key aspect on household expenditure.
According to them, the N603.2bn phone bill for the half year is about N500bn short of the N1.1trn that was spent on importation of essential food items such as wheat, rice, sugar and fish in 2011.
Last year, Nigeria spent about N635bn on the importation of wheat; N356bn on rice; N217bn on sugar and N97bn on fish.
The N603.2bn expenditure is also about oneeighth of Nigeria’s approved N4.697trn budget for 2012.
The President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria, Mr. Lanre Ajayi, said that while the estimate could be lower or higher, “the figure is an eye-opener to the fact that telecoms services have become very critical to our daily household needs.”
Ajayi noted that with increased competition engendered by the regulator and the commitment on the part of the government to support the telecoms players in areas where they were facing challenges, the cost of telecoms services is bound to further crash to the benefit of the consumers.
The President, National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers, Chief Deolu Ogunbanjo, noted that telecoms industry had become a critical sector in Nigeria, growing at a very fast rate “as we all now depend on telecoms in all our daily life.”
He said: “The growth is multifaceted in terms of subscriber base and the need to use telecoms services to achieve some critical ends in our daily and business life,
“Many people also subscribe to the internet services on their phones preferring to spend money on calls than for foods and other neccesities"
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