The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has stated that the number of internet users on the country’s telecom networks, had increased to 88,284,193 as at May.

The commission, which is the regulatory body, made this disclosure in its Monthly Internet Subscriber Data, which was obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Monday, in Lagos.

The data revealed that there was an increase of 1,228,711 internet users on both the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks in May.

According to the data, 87,055,481 users were recorded on the networks as at April.

It showed that of the 88,284,193 internet users as at May, 88,136,580 users were on GSM networks while 147,613 others were on the CDMA networks.

NAN reports that the GSM gained additional Internet customers of 1,231,875 in May, up from the 86,904,705 users recorded in April.

However, the CDMA networks lost 3,166 Internet users in May, down from the 150,779 being serviced in April.

Out of the 88,136,580 internet users recorded on the GSM networks in May, MTN Nigeria had 40,830,146 customers browsing the internet on its network.

It stated that MTN had an increase of 1,309,861 internet subscribers in May, after it recorded 39,520,285 users in April.

According to the data, Globacom had 19,340,990 subscribers surfing the net with its network in May, down from the 19,690,526 users in April.

NAN also reports that Globacom lost a total of 349,536 internet users on its network.

Airtel Nigeria, it said, had 17,634,885 internet users in May, as against 17,272,665 customers recorded in April.

The data showed that internet users on the Airtel Nigeria network increased by 362,220 in May.

It indicated that Etisalat had 10,330,559 of its customers browsing the internet in May, against the 10,421,229 users in April.

The data showed that those browsing the net on Etisalat’s network decreased by 90,670 in May.

The NCC data also revealed that the CDMA operators (Multi-Links and Visafone), had a joint total of 147,613 internet users on their networks in May.

It showed that the only surviving two CDMA networks in the country listed a loss of 3,166 internet subscribers in the month under review, from the 150,779 users they recorded in April.

According to the data, Visafone recorded a decrease of 2,765 customers surfing the internet in May, reducing to 147,487, compared to the 150,252 users in April.

It also showed that Multi-Links had 126 internet users in May, losing 401 customers from the April record of 527 users. (NAN)

Photo shows: Eugene Juwah