Telcos spending on diesel rises by 35%, hits N429bn
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The cost of powering Nigeria’s communications network rose by 34.57 per cent to N429.43bn in 2023 as diesel prices soared.
In 2023, telecommunication companies spent about N429.43bn on fueling base stations, an increase of 34.57 per cent from the N319.11bn they spent in 2022. This is as diesel prices soared in 2022 and remained at an elevated level in 2023.
In 2022, the telecoms industry noted, “The telecommunication industry has been heavily financially impacted following Nigeria’s economic recession in 2020 and the effect of the ongoing Ukraine/Russia crisis. This has resulted in an increase in energy costs (which constitutes an appreciable 35 per cent of ALTON’s members’ operating expenses).”
Since then, diesel prices have risen from N288.09 per litre in January according to data from the
Based on industry data, telecommunication operators use an average of 40 million litres of diesel per month to power telecom sites. Sunday PUNCH analysed the national prices of Diesel per month, from the NBS, to arrive at a total of N429.43bn for the year.
A breakdown of Sunday PUNCH’s analysis revealed that cost for these operators in January 2023 at N828.82/litre was N33.15bn. It was N33.48bn in February (N836.91/litre); N33.63bn in March (N840.81/litre); N33.69bn in April (N842.25/litre); N33.77bn in May (N844.28/litre); N32.63bn in June (N815.83/litre); N31.78bn in July (N794.48/litre); N34.17bn in August (N854.32/litre); N35.63bn in September (N890.80/litre); N40.19bn in October (N1004.98/litre); N42.22bn in November (N1055.57/litre); and N45.07bn in December (N1126.69/litre).
As of the end of 2022, the Nigerian Communications Commission disclosed that there was a total of 34,862 towers and 127,294 Base Stations in the country. In 2022, the telecoms industry spent N2.09tn on operational costs (a large percentage of this cost is diesel tied).
