Telephone subscribers rise highest since January 2021
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Telephone subscription countrywide rose to 199.2 million in March 2022, the highest figure across the four major carriers since January 2021.
The latest Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) data shows that MTN, Globacom, Airtel, and 9mobile added a total 1.4 million subscribers in March, lifting their customer base from 198.1 million in February.
Teledensity, which measures the number of active telephone connections per 100 residents of an area, also jumped to 104.54 per cent from 103.79 per cent in February.
The NCC explained that teledensity is calculated based on Nigeria’s population estimate of 190 million.
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Breakdown
MTN, the largest operator by subscribers, gained 243,879 new subscriptions in March, raising its total active customer database to 75.2 million from 74.9 million in February.
Globacom added 894, 565 to retain its position as the second-largest network. Its active customer base rose to 55.8 million in March from 54.9 in February, according to the NCC, per Nairametrics reporting.
Airtel also gained new customers as its subscriber numbers grew by 366,422 which brought its total to 55.3 million in March from 55 million in February.
However, 9mobile recorded a loss in subscriptions as it plunged by 71,992 to 12.7 million.
Background to increase
The steady rise in subscriptions across all networks since January 2022 shows they are regaining lost customers after government SIM registration policy made them lose over 20 million subscribers between December 2020 and April 2021.
The NCC last reported 197.5 million active telephone users, and among them internet 143.7 million subscribers. But these numbers do not reflect true telephone or internet penetration.
Nigeria has a population of 206 million and most telephone users have dual SIM handsets with which they acquire two telephone numbers from the same telecom operator or from two. Some also have more than one handset with dual sims.
In practice, a telephone user may have more than two lines.