Nigeria has the third highest mobile subscriptions additions in the first quarter of 2021 globally, says the latest mobility report by multinational telecommunications company, Ericsson.

Ericsson’s Vice President and Head of Ericsson South and East Africa, Todd Ashton, made this known on Tuesday during a virtual press briefing to launch the company’s latest mobility report. The report said that India had the most net additions of  (+26 million), followed by China (+6 million) and Nigeria (+3 million).

Ashton said: “Positioned as the third highest mobile subscriptions additions in Q1 2021 globally, Nigeria is growing tremendously setting Africa in motion.

He noted that the growth could be attributed to the young, growing population, the increasing digital skills, and the more affordable smartphones.

“Correspondingly, this growth is reflected in the online habits of the country where the dependency on online activities for daily tasks is expected to remain high in the future.” It said the net addition of mobile subscriptions was quite low during the  first quarter(Q1) of  2021, at 59 million. Ericsson said this was likely due to the pandemic and associated lockdown restrictions.

The report reveals that despite the uncertainty caused by COVID-19, service providers continue to switch on 5G, and more than 160 service providers have launched commercial 5G services.