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A clear case of technology disruption capable of frustrating the target income from voice calls by operators is gradually holding sway as Nigerian telecoms subscribers are now shifting calls from voice to Whatsapp and Skype which thrive on data.

A research by Business Hilights Economic Research Team (BHERT) showed that as the awareness grows, the implications are that teledensity will be negatively impacted as more lines that are not connected may suffer abandonment.

Thought the data driven calls, many of the times are not without some levels of hitches, subscribers who are aware of the technology use it with ease so far their callers are online.

According to findings, many Nigerian subscribers who use double SIM cards always dedicate one to both data and calls, leaving the other on voice calls either permanently or rotate both SIMs.

In an interview with the managing director of Spectranet 4G LTE Limited, Mr. David Venn, he noted that data is the voice of the future because the technology allows a subscriber to use any connected line to make calls using any of the applications including Whatsapp, Skpye or even Yahoo Messenger.

He revealed that calls one can make from about 1000MB loaded with about N1,500 will far outlast calls that can be made with the same value of recharge on voice calls.

Venn added that among the reason why his company is delivering tailored 4G services is to enable businesses grow on a fast lane with minimal cost.

But the report observed that why some networks are no more serious in investing on data service upgrade is to puncture the speed with which subscribers are switching to online calls because networks make more money in voice calls more than data.

But Venn argued that apart from the fact that online calls are the trend in developed societies, the earlier the regulator reviews the current floorless data price, the better for the industry and the entire drive of the nation towards full fledged knowledge economy which the ISPs are here to deepen.

BHERT further observed that it is either the regulator’s hands are tied with hidden commitments’ with some networks’ surreptitiously gaining from the floorless data price or it is fearing to discharge its statutory functions due to possible hits from the lawmakers who had roared when it attempted to do so some months ago.

Credence to the BHERT report was laid recently by statistics sourced from the Nigerian Communications Commission’s (NCC) website, showing that whereas Nigeria entered 2017 with 155.1 million subscribers, as at June, it reduced to 143.1 million and that the teledensity, which stood at 110.8 per cent at the beginning of the year, crashed to 102.2 per cent within the period.

Besides, even though connected lines grew from 238 million in January to 241 million by the end of the half year, the number of active users of telephony services in Nigeria fell in the period under review.

Networks are currently observing the trending shift from normal voice calls to calls riding on data.

For example, NCC figures showed that MTN was most hit, losing about nine million subscribers, followed by 9mobile, which lost over 2.5 million, Airtel 500,000 while Globacom, which celebrated 14 years of operations in Nigeria yesterday, lost about 200,000 lines.

However, some analysts traced the observed drop in general subscriber base of networks to drop in subscribers’ disposable income due to recession.