The total number of mobile subscriptions in Nigeria dropped by 0.44 percent to 226.16 million in March 2023 from 227.17 million in the previous month with the local unit of South African MTN still maintaining its position as market leader.
According to the latest industry data released on Friday by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the drop in the subscriber base of the telecom firms in the country stood at 1.01 million in one month.
MTN Nigeria continues to sustain its leadership position as the largest telecom provider with 91.55 million mobile subscriptions, representing 40.54 percent of the market share followed by Glo network operated by Globalcom with 60.79 million subscribers, which came to 26.92 percent of the market share.
Airtel Africa’s local unit came third place with 60.32 million subscribers, which represents 26.72 percent of the market share while 9Mobile came distance fourth with 13.14 million mobile subscriptions with a meager 6.82 percent of the market share.
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Teledensity, which refers to the number of active telephone connections per 100 inhabitants living within an area, fell to 118.48 percent in March as against 119.01 percent in February.
Mobile Internet subscriptions grew to 156.98 million, with broadband penetration rising to 53.50 percent and subscriptions declining to 92.03 million.
According to telecommunications companies, the slight decline might be due to the high rate of inflation, gasoline shortages, and cash shortages during the period under review.
In its Q1 2023 earnings release, the Chief Executive Officer of MTN Nigeria, Karl Toriola, stated that the firm continued to experience headwinds in its operating environment in the first quarter of 2023 as it navigates a challenging working environment.
The new industry statistics further showed that the telecommunications sector contributed 13.55 percent to the overall gross domestic product of Nigeria in Q4 2022, compared to 12.84 percent in Q3 2022 and 12.61 percent in Q4 2021, indicating a quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year increase.
(omayowa@globalfinancialdigest.com; Newsroom: +234 8033 964 138)
