Nigerians spend N20.83m monthly on MTN, Airtel networks
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Nigerians spent N1.25 trillion on phone calls, text messages, and data usage in the first half of 2022 (H1 2022) which comes down to N20.83 million a month, swelling the bank accounts of just two telecom networks alone, MTN and Airtel.
The half year financial reports of both carriers show a combined 17.77 per cent income rise from N1.06 trillion in H1 2021.
Globacom and 9mobile do not release their financial reports but the NCC already said MTN and Airtel carve out a combined 66.39 per cent of the mobile market.
MTN disclosed making N850.33 billion from calls and data in H1 2022, an increase of 18.50 per cent year-on-year (YoY) on N717.56 billion in H1 2021.
Airtel said it made N399.39 billion ($931 million) from calls and data, a 16.23 per cent increase YoY on N343.63 billion ($801 million).
MTN data revenue jumped 51.59 per cent from N229.88 billion in H1 2021 to N348.48 billion. Voice revenue rose 2.91 per cent from N487.68 to N501.85 billion.
Airtel data revenue grew 25.08 per cent from $323 to $404 million. Voice revenue shot up 10.25 per cent from $478 million to $527 million.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) during the 12-month period asked telcos to bar outgoing calls from subscribers who failed to link their NINs with their SIMs, which affected 32.6 million subscribers on the two networks.
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MTN growth trajectory on track
“Despite the slower growth recorded in Q2 due in large part to the restriction of outgoing calls for approximately 19 million of our subscribers (when initially implemented) in line with the NCC’s directive, we remained largely on track, delivering service revenue growth in line with our medium-term guidance of at least 20 per cent in H1.
“Growth was driven mainly by data revenue, while voice was the most impacted by the restriction,” MTN Nigeria Chief Executive Officer Karl Toriola said, per The PUNCH.
“However, we have seen a steady recovery in voice revenue since April 2022 as more customers are reactivated, and gross connections continue to ramp up, supported by increased usage from the existing base. Overall, voice revenue grew by 2.9 per cent YoY in H1.
“Data revenue rose by 51.6 per cent, maintaining the accelerated growth trajectory through increased subscribers and data usage.”
Toriola added that about 10 million of affected customers have now submitted their NINs for verification, 2.6 million of whom have been reactivated but some are abandoning their old SIMs to get new ones.
Data revenue succours Airtel
Airtel confirmed it lost $34 million in revenue as a result of the NCC directive to bar outgoing calls from SIMs not linked to NINs.
“Voice revenue grew by 10.8 per cent in constant currency, driven by customer base growth of 12.7 per cent while voice ARPU growth was flat,” Airtel said in its financial result.
“Voice revenue growth was impacted by the barring of outgoing calls for customers who had not submitted their NINs. A total of 13.6 million customers were initially barred out of which 5.3 million (39 per cent) have subsequently submitted their NIN and 2.3 million (17 per cent) have subsequently been verified and unbarred.
“This has resulted in a loss of approximately $34m revenue in the quarter and a corresponding impact of 7.5 percentage points on the growth rate.
“Data revenue grew by 24.8 per cent in constant currency, driven by data customer base growth of 15.6 per cent and data ARPU growth of 7.1 per cent. Data usage per customer increased by 19.1 per cent to 4.6 GB per month (from 3.8 GB in the prior period).”
