Telcos enlists 16 million subscribers in nine months

Telcos enlists 16 million subscribers in nine months

A new data from the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC shows that Telecommunication companies have registered 16.72 million subscribers in the first nine months of the year.

This brings the total number of active GSM lines in the nation to 211.85 million subscribers. The growth in the nation’s total number of subscribers has been sustained above the 200 million mark since April 2022.

It is also a recovery from the 13.63 million subscribers that were lost in the corresponding period of 2021. In the period under review, MTN Nigeria registered 7.62 million subscribers to increase its subscriber base to 81.21 million.

Globacom registered 4.58 million subscribers to increase its subscriber base to 59.39 million; Airtel registered 4.48 million to increase its base to 58.40 million; 9mobile registered 53,231 to increase its subscriber base to 12.84 million.

According to industry experts, the growth in the nation’s subscriber base is because of increased telecom service offerings and irregularities in the National Identification Number – Subscriber Identity Module registrations.

In April 2022, the Federal Government barred 72.77 million active telecommunication subscribers from making calls in a bid to enforce its compliance with its National Identification Number-Subscriber Identity Module policy.

MTN Nigeria Chief Executive Officer, Karl Toriola, in its third quarter release said, “We added 5.7 million mobile subscribers in the nine months bringing our base to 74.1 million, notwithstanding an increase in churn in Q3 2022.