Data users on GSM networks now 81.8m, MTN still leads with 39,173,123 - NCC

ITRealms:

The number of Internet users on the Global System for Mobile (GSM) communications networks in the country has now increased to 81,892,84 as at January 2015, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), reports ITRealms.

This increase arose from a total of 76,322, 802 in 2014 to 81,892,840 by January 2015, thus an increase of 5,570,038 internet users on the networks as MTN still leading the pack with 39,173,123 data users.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports weekend in Lagos this was contained in NCC Monthly Internet Subscriber Data, sourced by NAN.

This, NAN report said showed that from the 81,892,840 internet users recorded in January, MTN Nigeria led the table with 39,173,123 customers browsing the internet on its network.

It stated that MTN had an increase of 556,386 internet subscribers in January, after it recorded 38,616,737 users in the month of December 2014.

Globacom came second on the internet usage table, recording 17,671,405 subscribers surfing the net with its network in January.

Also the data revealed that Globacom gained a total of 532,085 additional internet users on its network, up from 17,139,320 users in December 2014.

Airtel Nigeria, it said was third on the roll with 14,969,924 internet users in January, as against 14,371,987 customers recorded in December.

The data showed that internet users on the Airtel Nigeria network also increased by 597,937 in January.

It disclosed that Etisalat was last on the table with 10,078,388 of its customers browsing the internet in January, compared to the 6,194,758 users in December, an increase of 3,883,630 users.

The NCC data also revealed that the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) operators (Multi-Links and Visafone) had a joint total of 153,798 internet users on their networks in January.

It showed, however, that the only surviving two CDMA networks in the country listed a loss of 526 internet subscribers in the month under review from the 154,324 users they recorded in December.

The data stated that Visafone recorded a decrease of 311 customers surfing the internet in January, reducing the number to 153,059 compared to the 153,370 users in the month of December.

It said that Multi-Links had 739 internet users in January, hence losing 215 customers from the December record of 954 users.

The data further showed that in spite of the decrease on the part of the CDMA networks, Nigerians were gradually embracing data as the next revolution in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector.

NAN +Remmy Nweke (ITRealms)

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Over 1,000 civilians killed by Boko Haram in Nigeria since January - HRW

ITRealms:

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said that attacks by the Islamist armed group known as Boko Haram has led to the killing of over 1,000 civilians since January 2015, reports ITRealms.

HRW also said that its claims were based on witness accounts and an analysis of media reports, even as Boko Haram fighters had deliberately attacked villages and committed mass killings and abductions as their attacks have spread from northeast Nigeria into Cameroon, Chad, and Niger since February.

ITRealms equally reports that Human Rights Watch said it conducted interviews in late January with people who fled Yobe, Adamawa, and Borno states in northeastern Nigeria, which revealed horrific levels of brutality. 

“Since mid-2014, Boko Haram fighters have seized control of scores of towns and villages covering 17 local government areas in these northeastern states, some of which were recaptured by Nigerian and Chadian forces in March 2015,” HRW said in a press statement made available to ITRealms

“Each week that passes we learn of more brutal Boko Haram abuses against civilians,” said Mausi Segun, Nigeria researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The Nigerian government needs to make protecting civilians a priority in military operations against Boko Haram.”

The findings underscore the human toll of the conflict between Boko Haram and forces from from Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger. Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency says that nearly one million people have been forced to flee since the Islamist rebel group began its violent uprising in July 2009. 

During 2014, Human Rights Watch estimates that at least 3,750 civilians died during Boko Haram attacks in these areas. Attacks in the first quarter of 2015 have increased compared to the same period in 2014, including seven suicide bombings allegedly using women and children.

Udo Ndinma/GEE

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