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Snapshot of Mobile Web in Nigeria (Opera’s State of the Mobile Web)

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Opera’s state of the mobile web report for the month of February 2010 is out. Nigeria is in the top 10 list again at number 7, one step behind South Africa.

smw

Here is Opera’s snapshot of Nigeria for the month:

* Page-view growth since February 2009: 1,082.5%
* Unique-user growth since February 2009: 638.6%
* Page views per user: 393
* Data transferred per user (MB): 5
* Data transferred per page view (KB): 14
* The Grid, a mobile social-networking site, is new to the list in Nigeria.

Top 10 sites in Nigeria (unique users)

1. facebook.com
2. yahoo.com (3)
3. google.com (2)
4. bbc.co.uk
5. wikipedia.org
6. cnnmobile.com
7. sharemobile.ro
8. onthegrid.com (new)
9. goal.com (8)
10. mjoy.com

Top handsets for February 2010

1. Nokia 3110c
2. Nokia 5130 XpressMusic
3. Nokia 2700c
4. Nokia 2600c
5. Nokia N70
6. Nokia N72
7. Nokia 6300
8. Nokia 2330c
9. Sony Ericsson K750i
10. Nokia 2630

Don’t forget that the above statistics reflect only mobile web usage via Opera Mini only.

You can read and download February 2010’s State of the Mobile Web report from the Opera website.

7 comments

  1. The resurgence of Opera Mini usage in Nigeria is likely to be the result of the unblocking of access to Opera Mini Servers by both MTN & AirTel (sorry ZAIN !) in recent times.

    I will hazard a guess that the usage level of alternative mobile browsers like UCweb, Bolt will have plummeted correspondingly…

  2. The resurgence of Opera Mini usage in Nigeria is likely to be the result of the unblocking of access to Opera Mini Servers by both MTN & AirTel (sorry ZAIN !) in recent times.

    True.

  4. The opera mini statistics is quite instructive. I also think that the actions to unban opera on MTN and Zain networks contributed to the growth.

  5. On the net recently that scammers from Nigeria contributed to the surge in Opera usage. I was angry. I thought the compression technology was the attraction… or were the reports the often times jaundiced view about Nigeria?

    Anyway, I hope this news wouldn’t attract another round of negative press reports.

  6. Opera mini makes browsing fun and it is highly economical. I found it imposible to open java applications on my nokia e63 recently , thank God i finally found a solution. 2 days without using opera mini made me burn off a large portion of my data bundle. I am a big fan of opera mini and I also introduce it to friends and families.

  7. archie,

    You said:

    On the net recently that scammers from Nigeria contributed to the surge in Opera usage. I was angry. I thought the compression technology was the attraction… or were the reports the often times jaundiced view about Nigeria?

    MobilityNigeria has been following mobile internet usage in Nigeria for years. Every major online discussion forum (and several blogs) run by Nigerians have an active promotion of illegal free browsing going on. MobilityArena.com is the only clear exception. And we are very much proud of that, though there are those who would have us change our position if it were left to them.

    In addition, even foreign forums are inundated with threads about free browsing hacks and codes on Nigerian networks. Visit Esato and Prodigits to see for yourself. Take a look at My-Symbian and at a time AllAboutSymbian. There are several other such websites.

    While Nigeria has great potentials for mobile internet usage, it did not blossom until the free browsing craze became mainstream.

    Beyond Opera Mini, the Your-Freedom website has a dedicated webpage to Nigeria, and here is the introduction:

    There is no governmental censorship going on as far as we know, but Your Freedom is nevertheless widely used in Nigeria. Though no-one really has ever told us what it is used for it’s quite obvious that it’s being used for toll bypassing on the country’s mobile networks. I am sure you will understand that we cannot encourage you to use our service for criminal activity — and toll bypassing is nothing else but fraud. On the other hand, we cannot tell nor do we want to tell whether you are using our service with your mobile provider’s consent or not — it is none of our business. Please use Your Freedom only via paid-for data connections.

    Just visit almost any Nigerian online discussion community and search for Your-Freedom, and you’ll find posts and threads on how to browse free on your PC and laptop with this software. This is a software developed for other purposes.

    You’ll also find individuals making money by selling those hacks or helping people set them up. Newspaper adverts are not left out. The audacity is shocking! People actually place ads in the newspapers announcing that for a fee they can help you browse free on your PC.

    The vast majority of young Nigerian using GSM-based internet services are perpetrators of this act – including those who want us to believe that the argument lacks merit. How nice.

    It is not a jaundiced view of the country. It is the reality. It is fraudulent. It is criminal. And it is shameful.

    We will keep watching the trend, but for now, nothing seems to have changed.

    Cheers.

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