Active mobile subscriptions across the four GSM networks of MTN, Globacom, Airtel, and 9mobile rose to 199.5 million in March. This is the highest number of subscriptions recorded by the operators since January 2021.
According to the latest industry statistics released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the operators added a total of 1.4 million subscriptions in March, which bolstered their customer database from 198.1 million recorded in February this year.
With the growth recorded by the operators, the country’s teledensity, which measures the number of active telephone connections per 100 inhabitants living within an area, also jumped to 104.54% from 103.79% recorded in February. According to NCC, the teledensity is calculated based on a population estimate of 190 million.
What the operators gained
- The March statistics show that MTN, which is the largest operator by subscriber number, gained 243,879 new subscriptions in the month. This brought its total active customer database to 75.2 million from 74.9 million in the previous month
- Globacom added 894, 565 new subscriptions in August to retain its position as the second-largest operator. The telco’s active customer database rose to 55.8 million at the end of the month from 54.9 in February.
- Airtel also gained new customers in the month under review as its subscription database grew by 366,422. This brought its total subscriptions to 55.3 million from 55 million in February.
- However, 9mobile recorded a loss of subscriptions in the month. The company’s database plunged by 71,992 to 12.7 million.
With a steady increase in mobile subscriptions across the networks since the beginning of this year, the operators are steadily regaining their lost customers after the government’s policy on SIM registration caused them to lose over 20 million subscriptions between December 2020 and April 2021.