MTN, Glo, Airtel, others lost 6.8m subscribers in 12 months – NBS

MTN Nigeria and other telecommunications providers in the country have lost 6.8 million subscribers in one year.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed this in it’s latest Telecoms Data: Active Voice and Internet, Porting and Tariff Information (Q1 2024) report.

The report was seen by Ripples Nigeria on Monday.

According to the report, the total number of active voice subscriptions dropped from 226, 161, 713 in Q1 2023 to 219,304,281 in Q1 2024.

This represents a loss of 6,857,432 active voice subscriptions.

While no reasons were given by the bureau for this huge decline, it may be linked to the ongoing Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) enforced National Identification Number (NIN)-Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) linkage policy.

The telecom regulator ordered MTN, Airtel, and Globacom, to implement a full network bar on all phone lines whose subscribers had not submitted their NINs by February 28.

Lines with submitted but unverified NINs were also barred by the commission.

The deadline for barring lines with unverified NINs was March 29 for five or more lines linked to an unverified NIN, and April 15, 2024, for fewer than five lines linked to an unverified NIN.

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In enforcing the order, MTN Nigeria disclosed in its first-quarter 2024 financial report that it had barred 8.6 million lines, while Airtel Nigeria stated that about 5.7 million of its subscribers yet to link their SIM cards to their NINs have been barred.

The report read; “The total number of active voice subscribers in Q1 2024 was 219,304,281, down from 226,161,713 reported in Q1 2023, indicating a growth rate of -3.03 per cent.”

“Overall, Lagos State leads with 18.84 million subscribers, closely followed by Ogun State with 9.53 million. Kano State recorded 9.07 million internet users, and Oyo State came in fourth with 11,158,965 active subscriptions.

MTN dominated the Nigerian telecom market with 81,799,666 active voice subscriptions, solidifying its position as the leading telecom operator in the country.

Airtel followed closely with 63,357,061 active subscriptions, while GLO came in third with 62,191,448 active voice subscriptions.

EMTS (9mobile) had 11,657,703 active voice subscriptions, and SMILE maintained 175,711 active voice subscriptions in Q1 2024.

While subscribers to voice calls declined, internet subscribers grew by 4.33% year-to-year.

“The total number of active internet subscribers stood at 164,368,292 from 157,551,104 reported in Q1 2023, showing an increase of 4.33%. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, this grew by 0.32%” the report added.

By: Babajide Okeowo

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