MTN, Airtel’s phone subscribers base drop, drags down industry’s total users in H1

The total number of active subscribers for telephone services fell by 2.71 percent in the first half (H1) of 2023 following a decline in the subscriber base of MTN Nigeria and Airtel Nigeria.

At the end of June, the industry recorded 219.76 million telephony subscribers, which is 6.11 million lower compared to the 225.88 million reported in January.

The loss in subscriber base was attributed to MTN Nigeria, which lost 7.28 million users within the first half of this year, to end the period with 84.66 million, from 91.95 million.

Similarly, the subscribers of Airtel decreased from 60.56 million to 60.19 million, indicating a decline of 373,035 users in the customer base of the telecommunications company.

However, Globacom and 9mobile saw their subscriber base increase as those of MTN and Airtel were dropping in the first half, according to data obtained from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

Surprisingly, 9mobile recorded the highest growth in subscriber base after reporting 546,846 telephony users joined its base, which represents a 4.19 percent increase.

9mobile’s total telephony subscriber base rose to 13.57 million during the review period, up from 13.03 million, the NCC data reported.

Globacom also contributed to the subscriber base, reporting it recorded 61.33 million users at the end of June, compared to the 60.33 million subscribers posted in January – this shows Glo’s base rose by 998,994 users.

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