Mobile network operators in Nigeria, comprising MTN, Airtel, Globacom, and 9mobile recorded a 10.9 million increase in active subscriptions in the first six months of 2022. According to the latest industry data released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), this brought the country’s total mobile subscriptions to 206 million at the end of June 2022.
As of December 2021, active subscriptions across the four networks stood at 195.1 million. The growth came after the operators had had a bad year in 2021 following the government’s ban on new SIM registration between December 2020 and April 2021.
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 from 102.40% in December 2021 to 108.15% in June 2022. According to NCC, the teledensity is calculated based on a population estimate of 190 million.
How the telcos fared in the last 6 months
- The NCC’s statistics show that MTN, which is the largest operator by subscriber number, gained 5.4 million new subscriptions between January and June this year. This brought its total active customer database to 79 million from 73.59 million it recorded in December 2021.
- Airtel added 4.2 million new subscriptions in the period to retain its position as the second-largest operator. The telco’s active customer database rose to 58.1 million at the end of June 2022 from 53.9 million in December 2021.
- Globacom also gained new customers in the period under review as its subscription database grew by 1.4 million. This brought its total subscriptions to 56.2 million from 54.8 million it recorded in December last year.
- However, 9mobile recorded a loss of subscriptions in the period. The company’s database plunged by 129,988 to 12.6 million from 12.7 million subscriptions it recorded in December 2021.
- Before the policy-induced decline recorded last year, active mobile subscriptions in Nigeria had grown steadily to hit an all-time high of 207.57 million in October 2020. With the steady rise being recorded this year, the country is set to surpass the 2020 record.