The total number of Mobile Internet Subscribers in Nigeria reached 114.7 million in February 2019. This is revealed in the latest internet subscribers data released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on its official web page.
According to NCC, total mobile internet subscribers increased by 1% month-on-month. Specifically, in the month of January, mobile internet subscribers stood at 113.8million, while increased to 114.7million in February 2019.
MTN maintains highest subscribers, controls 41% market share
According to the data, MTN recorded the highest number of mobile internet subscribers in February.
For the month, MTN recorded a rise in internet subscribers to 46.5 million, up from 45.9 million in January and 43.9 million in December 2018. This represents a slow rise of 1% growth rate month-on-month, compared to 4.63% recorded between December 2018 and January 2019.
Also, analysis of the data shows that MTN controls over 41% of the total market share for internet subscribers.
Similarly, Airtel ranks as the second highest mobile internet subscribers in Nigeria. It controls 27% of the total market share. As at January 2019, Airtel has 30.5 million mobile internet subscribers. However, the total number of Airtel subscribers increased to 30.8 million.
9mobile and Glo witnessed a decline in internet subscribers yet again
An earlier article by Nairametrics reported that both 9mobile and Glo witnessed a decline in the total number of internet subscribers in January 2019. But the latest NCC report has revealed that there was a decline in the total internet subscribers for both 9mobile and Glo for the month of February.
In February, 9mobile’s internet subscribers decreased marginally to 9.80 million as against 9.88 million in January. The NCC data also revealed that Glo’s mobile internet subscribers decreased marginally to 27.4 million as against 27.6 million in January and 28million in December 2018.
SMILE controls 81% of Subscribers on VoIP, while NTEL is nosediving
Data on Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) subscribers shows that SMILE controls over 81% of VoIP internet subscribers in Nigeria. In January, total internet subscribers using SMILE increased to 295,443, up from 288,388 in January 2019.
However, NTEL continues to witness a decline in internet subscribers, as the total number of internet subscribers using NTEL fell to 66,585, from 69,785 in January.
Since August 2018, total subscribers on NTEL have been falling. In August 2018, total subscribers on NTEL stood at 91,048 while it has dropped to 66,585 in February 2019, indicating a 23.3% decline within the last 8months.
