However, 97 million Subscribers Identification Modules (SIM) cards have turned inactive, leaving only 204.2 million active users in Nigeria out of the approximately 301.5 million GSM-connected telephone lines.
Mobile network operators (MNOs), which include MTN, Airtel, Globacom, and 9mobile, have mainly activated the linked lines. In Nigeria, SIM activations began more than 20 years ago, and that time marked the commencement of the nation’s telecoms revolution.
Analysts claim that a phone line turns into inactive if it is not utilized for at least 90 days by the user to place or receive calls, as well as access data services. A phone line may become inactive due to slow economic growth, bad network service, owner death, or other circumstances.
In a similar development, by the end of 2021, there were 18.3 million active subscribers to all value-added services (VAS), representing a 46.8% rise from the 12,449,828 active subscriptions registered in 2020.
The VAS platforms are still underutilized despite having 83.7 million installed capabilities as of 2021, up from 55.5 million as of 2020, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), which disclosed this in a paper.
The VAS license holders offer supplemental telecom services such Call Ring Back Tone/Entertainment, Mobile Electricity Service, Enterprise Bulk Messaging, Transactional Service, SMS Services, Mobile Banking, Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), and Special Numbering, among others.
The NCC claims that these licensees also offer telecommunications services in all 36 states as well as in at least one state in each of the nation’s four geopolitical zones.
According to the commission, 36 VAS providers responded to their questionnaires asking for 2021 Year End Network Data. Gistme Communications Limited, Vastitude Technologies Limited, TXT Light Power Solutions Limited, and Payvantage Limited are a few of these VAS providers.
The Outsource Company Limited, Alvoice Solutions Limited, Inq. Digital Nigeria (Vodacom Business Africa Limited), IP Integrated Solution Limited, and Vas2Nets Technologies Limited are among the others.
The telecoms regulator estimates that in 2021, VAS license holders will create a total of N32, 918,867,894.77 in revenue, operating on N11,797,521,180.07. The commission reported that, as of the time under examination, VAS players had invested N335, 871,200 in domestic capital expenditures (CAPEX).
According to the document, there were 751 employees working in the VAS market category as of 2021. It emphasized that there were 734 Nigerian employees, of whom 526 were men and 208 were women, while there were 12 foreign employees and five were women.
Meanwhile, according to a research by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the World Benchmarking Alliance, 38 of the top 150 technology businesses worldwide are on track to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030, with several planning to achieve carbon negative status shortly after (WBA).
The latest research, “Greening digital companies: Monitoring emissions and climate commitments,” details the energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of 150 of the biggest internet firms in the world.
The goal of the project is to make it easier for tech companies to adopt best practices, speed up emissions reduction, and “green” themselves to stop emitting carbon dioxide (CO 2) and other GHGs.
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) could become one of the cleanest sectors of the global economy, the report claims, provided other digital enterprises followed in the footsteps of those already pioneering the fight for carbon neutrality.
Houlin Zhao, the secretary-general of the ITU, emphasized that digital companies are a crucial component of the world economy and noted that this new study serves as a blueprint for guiding all of these businesses toward net-zero emissions. The only way to guarantee that the current digital transition speeds up climate action is to take this action now, before it’s too late.
The study states that the 150 firms’ operating GHG emissions in 2020 totaled 239 million tonnes, or 0.8% of global emissions.
“However, digital companies—defined as those that manufacture and market ICT products, run telecommunication networks, offer software and other IT services, including data centers and cloud computing—have also emerged as significant players in the fight to reduce hazardous emissions.”
