CcHUB Reveals How Blue-Collar Nigerians Use Their Phone

Statistics from the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) shows that Nigeria, the most populous black nation, boasts of 142 million active lines and over 167 million phones.
Active mobile internet subscription has grown from 63 million in 2014 to over 81 million in January 2015.

Meanwhile, Ericsson mobility report June 2014 had that these numbers will double by 2019.
Empirical data is vital in providing a baseline on mobile phone usage for digital businesses to make better informed decisions hence CcHUB provides such data through the ‘How I Use My Phone’ research.
The research aims to gather and share data and insights on the patterns of mobile phone usage across different user demographics in Nigeria.

This edition focuses on blue-collar workers, in a bid to learn how they interact with mobile devices.
The Hub believes the information will be useful to researchers and other stakeholders building services and products targeted at the semi-skilled or non-professional (and professional) workforce in Nigeria.

With 6,325 workers having taken the survey from Lagos, Abuja and Aba, this is the largest sample size featured in this series.

Key Insights of the study were obtained from more than half of the survey group (54.8%) who earns a monthly income between NGN 20,000 – NGN 40,000.
Highlights from workers in this income bracket show they are predominantly in the 25-35 year age bracket (62.8%); Nokia (feature) phones dominate for reasons of affordability (45.1%) own Nokia phones; more than half (51.4%) use mobile internet with monthly data spend between NGN 1,000 – NGN 2,000 and nearly two thirds (62.7%) spend between NGN 100 – NGN 500 weekly on phone credit bought in NGN 200 denominations
General Findings From the Research indicate that Nokia phones (now Microsoft devices) are STILL the Most Popular: Nokia (41.4%) trumped other phone brands (Tecno 23.6%, Blackberry 12.1%, Samsung 8.2%) as more workers own Nokia phones.

It should be noted that over 65% of Nokia devices owned were feature phones (non-smartphones).
Also, ‘Buying Decisions’ were influenced By price in a Majority of Cases: 48.6% of workers cited the cost of the phone as the main influencer when purchasing a new phone.
With over 50% of blue collar workers earning NGN 30,000 or less monthly, it is perhaps not surprising that cost of phone is a major factor in choice of device purchased.
Also, Blue Collar Workers Mostly Make Phone Calls: 61.8% indicated phone calls as the most frequent activity on their phones.

Others indicated browsing (19.3%), texting (9%), chatting (7.1%) & gaming (2.8%).
-Facebook is the Most Popular App: Of the 56.6% who subscribe for internet, Facebook (25.5%) is used the most. Whatsapp was really close with 25%. Others include: Blackberry messenger (13.6%) and Opera-mini (11.7%).
The long-term goal for this project is to contribute to a better understanding of mobile phone end-users in Nigeria to enable decision making that is guided by empirical data.
Previous ‘How I Use My Phone’ editions have focused on market traders, working professionals, and university students in Nigeria.

With more editions planned for release in 2015, CcHUB aims to identify patterns including similarities and disparities of mobile phone usage across different user demographics.
Co-Creation Hub is Nigeria’s first open living lab and pre-incubation space designed as a multi-functional, multi-purpose space where work to catalyze creative social tech ventures take place.
The HUB serves as a place for technologists, social entrepreneurs, government, tech companies, impact investors and hackers in and around Lagos to co-create new solutions to Nigeria’s social problems