NIN/SIM Reg: Airtel, MTN, Glo And 9Mobile Loses 11.8 Million Subscribers

Statistics have confirmed the decrease of telecom subscribers by 11.8 million in Nigeria following the directives of the Nigeria Communications Commission to telcos to suspend sales, registration and activation of new SIM cards.

Naija News recalls that a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos last week ordered the extension of the deadline for National Identity Number registration by two months.

The presiding Judge, Justice Maureen Onyetenu, while ruling over a fundamental right suit filed by legal practitioner, Monday Ubani, against the Nigerian government, the Attorney General of the Federation, Nigerian Communications Commission and the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, extended the registration date.

However, the registration which was rolled out by the Muhammadu Buhari administration four months ago is said to have drastically affected telecommunication industries in the country as the number of telecom subscribers dropped by 11.84 million.

According to the recent report, the four major telecommunications operators in the country recorded a loss of 4.13 million active subscribers in February 2021, as the industry recorded 195.73 million GSM users in the month. The telecoms had lost 46,648 subscribers in November 2020, followed by a drop of 3.38 million subscribers in December 2020 and then a loss of 4.29 million subscribers in January 2021.

The telecoms service providers also have recorded zero porting activities as a result of NCC’s directive which halts porting activities as well. Naija News understands that Airtel among others recorded the highest number of loss of subscribers in February.

The company’s subscribers according to statistic dropped by 1.99 million subscribers from 53.42 million subscribers in January to 51.43 million customers. MTN followed with a loss of 1.68 million subscribers. It had 79.03 million subscribers in January, but the figure fell to 77.34 million in February.

Globacom lost 415,071 subscribers, recording a total of 54.17 million subscribers as against 54.59 million users in January. While 9mobile on the other hand had 12.80 million users in January, lost 35,698 subscribers in February with a total of 12.77 million users. Globacom, which replaced Airtel as the second largest operator in January, retained the position with 27.68 per cent market share, while Airtel followed with 26.28 per cent market share.

MTN remained Nigeria’s largest mobile network operator with 39.52 per cent market share. 9mobile remained the fourth operator with 6.41 per cent market share.

In February, mobile Internet subscribers is said to have decreased by 2.76 million with the total number of Internet users dropping to 148.13 million from 150.89 million in January, Naija News reports.