According to data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the country's telecoms industry reduced its workforce by 383 personnel over the past year as operators faced a sharp increase in operating expenses. The NCC's 2023 and 2024 Year-End Performance Reports show that total staff strength among licensed operators decreased from 17,882 in 2023 to 17,499 in 2024, suggesting job losses in important market categories.
The drop happened during the same year that operators' operating expenditures grew from N3.16 trillion in 2023 to N5.85 trillion in 2024, representing an 85.35% year-on-year increase. The Commission highlighted increasing energy costs, inflation, foreign exchange pressures, and different taxes levied by state and municipal governments as the primary drivers of the increase in spending. Although the NCC obtained 0% Right-of-Way fees in several areas, operators continued to complain about expensive network deployment and maintenance expenses.
A breakdown of the employment data, GSM operators led the workforce decline, with personnel numbers dropping from 7,212 to 6,658. Internet Service Providers lowered their workforce from 5,589 to 5,473, while Value-Added Service Operators decreased theirs from 813 to 713. Fixed-line operators had a modest increase from 268 to 272 workers.\
There were increases in two categories. Collocation and Infrastructure Sharing providers expanded their employment from 1,574 in 2023 to 1,751 in 2024, while the "Others" group grew from 2,426 to 2,632. These increases did not compensate for the decreases observed in the GSM, ISP, and VAS categories.\
The workforce change followed a significant decline in active voice subscribers following the implementation of the NIN-SIM linkage policy. Active subscriptions dropped from 224.7 million in 2023 to 164.9 million in 2024, a 26.61% decrease. Teledensity also declined, from 103.66% in 2023 to 76.08% in 2024.
According to the NCC, "As of December 2024, total active voice subscriptions for the whole market sectors were 164,926,599 as compared to 224,713,710 reported in December 2023. This suggests a 26.61% decrease in 2024.
Despite the decline in subscriber numbers, capital investment increased rapidly. CAPEX grew from N990.55 billion in 2023 to N2.90 trillion in 2024, owing to the rising cost of imported network equipment and expansion projects.
During the period, operators expanded their infrastructure, increasing the number of towers from 39,356 to 39,880, base stations from 137,992 to 145,141, and fibre rollout. Industry revenue increased by 44.70%, from N5.30 trillion in 2023 to N7.67 trillion in 2024.
Despite increased revenue, operators reported in their reports that rising costs continued to have an impact on planning and overall operations. Many businesses mentioned energy prices, foreign exchange scarcity, and many taxes as ongoing challenges.
Telecoms provided 14.40% of Nigeria's GDP in Q4 2024, slightly more than the 14% reported in Q4 2023. The NCC said that the GDP rebasing exercise is likely to better incorporate the future contribution of the digital economy.
