There were 222.5 million telephone subscribers in Nigeria as of the end of 2022, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said.
The 2022 figure showed an increase of 27.1 million subscribers over the 195.5 million subscribers recorded at the end of 2021.
The NBS stated the figures in its Telecoms Data: Active Voice and Internet per State, Porting and Tariff Information report for the last quarter of 2022, released in Abuja on Monday.
The report showed that the figure for the last quarter of 2022 represented a 13.87 per cent rise in voice subscriptions on a year-on-year basis.
On state-by-state analysis, the report showed that Lagos State had the highest number of active telephone users in 2022 at 26.5 million, followed by Ogun with 13 million users.
Kano State came third with 12.4 million telephone users.
The report showed that Bayelsa had the least number of telephone users at 1.6 million subscribers, followed by Ebonyi and Ekiti with 1.9 million users and two million users, respectively.
It also showed that Lagos State had the highest number of internet users at 18.7 million subscribers, followed by Ogun with 9.2 million subscribers and Kano State with 8.5 million subscribers.
“On the other hand, Bayelsa recorded the least number of 1.1 million internet users, followed by Ebonyi and Ekiti with 1.3 million and 1.5 million subscribers, respectively,’’ it stated.