The Telecommunications operators in Nigeria have recorded the loss of 4.28 million active subscribers in January 2021, according to latest industry statistics from the Nigerian Communications Commission,(NCC).
The data showed that the telcos lost an additional one million subscribers above the 3.3 million subscriber loss recorded in December as the industry recorded 199.86 million GSM users in January.
The four telecoms service providers also recorded zero porting activities, following the NCC’s directive in December for the telcos to suspend sales, registration and activation of new SIM cards, hindering porting activities as well.
Further breakdown of subscriber statistics showed that Airtel lost the highest number of subscribers in January.
The telecom dropped by 2.21 million subscribers from 55.64 million subscribers in December to 53.42 million customers.
MTN followed with a loss of 1.72 million subscribers. It had 80.76 million subscribers in December, but the figure fell to 79.03 million in January.
Globacom lost 245,627 subscribers, recording a total of 54.59 million subscribers as against 54.84 million GSM users in December.
9mobile, which had 12.98 million users in December 2020 lost 173,567 subscribers in January with a total of 12.80 million users.
Airtel was the country’s second largest operator with 27.25 per cent of market share.
MTN, however, remained Nigeria’s largest mobile network operator with 39.54 per cent market share.
Globacom replaced Airtel as the second largest with 27.32 per cent market share, while Airtel followed with 26.73 per cent market share.
9mobile remained the fourth operator with 6.41 per cent market share.
Unsurprisingly, Nigeria’s tele-density dropped by 2.25 per cent as the number of subscriptions dropped from 204.52 million in December to 200.21 million in January.
Broadband penetration fell to 42.93 per cent from 45.02 per cent in December as broadband subscriptions dropped from 85.94 million in December to 81.94 million in January.
Nigeria’s mobile Internet subscribers decreased by 2.97 million in January, with the total number of users dropping to 150.89 million from 153.87 million in December 2020.
The Internet subscriber data revealed that MTN’s mobile Internet subscriber base reduced the most again in January, with a loss of 1.37 million. Its subscribers dropped from 65.35 million in December to 63.98 million in January.
Airtel, followed with a loss of 1.25 million Internet subscribers. The telco recorded a total of 40.03 million consumers in January, against 41.28 million consumers in December.
Lateefah Ibrahim
