The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says active mobile telephone lines in Nigeria decreased marginally to 160.5 million in August from 161.42 million in July. But what was lost in voice was gained in internet subscription as internet users increased marginally to 104.6 million in the same period.

The NCC made this known on Monday in its Monthly Internet Subscribers Data for August posted on its website.

According to the data, Airtel, MTN and Globacom gained more internet subscribers during the month under review, while was 9mobile only loser.

The data also showed that overall internet users increased to 104, 628,342 in August from the 103,671,778 in July showing an increase of 956,564.

The breakdown revealed that Airtel gained the more with 421, 467 new internet users in August increasing its subscription to 27,508,240 as against 27,086,773 in July.

It further showed that MTN was second, gaining 387,972 new users in the month under review, increasing its subscription to 39,459,642 in August as against 39,071,670 in July.

It said that Globacom was the third gainer with 272,692 new internet users, increasing its subscription in August to 27,418,767 from 27,146,075 recorded in July.

NCC data however showed that 9mobile was the big loser with  125,  567 internet users in August decreasing its subscription to 10, 241,693 as against 10,367,260 recorded in July.

NCC said that subscriber base for voice decreased by 904,767 in August.

The communications regulatory body added that the Mobile Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) for active mobile lines in August was 119,008 as against 125,444 recorded in July, a decrease of 6,436.

The report said the number of fixed wired/wireless for active mobile lines in August was 140,806 compared with its July figure of 140,582 lines, recording an increase of 224.

According to NCC, the number of Voice-Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) was 105,678 in August compared with 101,131 recorded in July,  representing an increase of 4,547.

It also revealed that Teledensity reduced by 0.65 in August to 114.92 as against 115.57 in July.

Teledensity is the number of telephone connections for every 100 individuals living within an area and it varies widely across the country.

NCC also said that the number of connected lines in August stood at 240,432,680 million as against 238,219,577 million in July, showing an increase of 2,213,103 million.

The CDMA for connected lines for August, was 247,983 as against 246,126 recorded in July, indicating an increase of 1,857, the subscribers’ data said.

The report said the number of fixed wired/wireless for connected lines in August was 351,103 compared with its July data that had 350,998, indicating an increase of 105 lines.

It also showed that the number of VOIP for connected lines in August was 690,042 as against 667,763 in July rising by 22,279 lines.