By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
MTN retained its telecom market lead in Nigeria in the first quarter of 2021 (Q1 2021) with N385.32 billion income from voice, data, and other services; followed by Airtel which made N334.76 billion.
Both networks grossed N720.07 billion, an increase of N108.7 billion from N611.34 billion in Q1 2020.
Data released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) show that MTN, the first national mobile operator established in Nigeria in 2001, has 83,331,682 subscribers as of October 2020 or 40.14 per cent of the market.
Airtel (also established in Nigeria in 2001 as Econet) has 56,214,072 subscribers (27.08 per cent), Globacom 55,079,362 (26.53 per cent), and 9Mobile 12,953,121 (6.24 per cent).
A telephone subscriber may use voice call and opt out of the different segment of data for internet access. But even in the data section, MTN gained 1.74 million subscribers in June 2020 against 882,458 in May.
Glo led the charts in May when it gained 8.302 million data subscribers. Its figure grew from 28.934 million in December 2019 to 37.236 million in May 2020.
MTN gained 4.75 million data subscribers in May. Airtel had 2.795 million while 9mobile lost 812,827 subscribers, according to NCC figures.
In June 2020, MTN beat all competitors as its data subscribers rose to 60.60 million from 58.86 million in May, an addition of 1.74 million.
MTN as of Q1 2021 has 42 per cent of the internet subscription market and 40 per cent of voice, both figures the highest among competitors.
Latest MTN financials
On the latest financials, Nairametrics explains that MTN positioned itself and made expansionary decisions to reach where it is – the second most capitalised firm on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
Per Nairametrics reporting, MTN in Q1 2021
· Made N208.62 billion as voice revenue against N194.04 billion in Q1 2020.
· Recorded N105.7 billion as data revenue, up from N74.01 billion in Q1 2020.
· Grossed N70.99 billion from other services against N61.12 billion in Q1 2020.
· Made N10.67 billion from SMS compared to N3.34 billion in Q1 2020.
Airtel
Airtel also grew revenue across voice, data, and other services in Q1 2021.
· Voice – N173.55 billion (Q1 2020, N145.52 billion).
· Data – N98.7 billion (Q1 2020, N90.3 billion).
· Other services – N62.51 billion (Q1 2020, N46.32 billion).
Airtel recorded growth across all regions in its 2020 figures.
Nigeria was up 21.9 per cent, East Africa (23.5 per cent), and Francophone Africa (10 per cent) across key services, with revenues for voice rising 11.0 per cent, data (31.2 per cent), and mobile money (35.5per cent).
Telecom contributes 9.5% to GDP
· Information and communication sector contributed 9.57 per cent to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Q1 2020, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
· Telecom remained resilient in 2020 amid coronavirus, with a surge in demand for data usage and in total mobile subscribers.
· The pandemic forced organisations to adopt remote workspace/digital workspace that increased demand for data services.
