Analysis: Nigeria Now Has Over 160 Million Active Telephone Lines and GSM Service Providers Take the Highest Share

This figure shows that there are 114.66% active telephone connections per one hundred (100) inhabitants within the country and if we are to go by the national population of 140 million (according to 2006 Last Census Population Figure) then it implies that an average Nigerian has more than one line to his/herself.

Related Post: Analysis: Nigeria Now Has 98m Internet Subscribers and 9mobile is Highest Gainer

Here are other breakdowns:

Nigeria has 160 Million Subscribers for Telephony Services

The NCC report also states that Nigeria currently has 160,081,051 active subscribers for telephony services on each of the licensed service providers utilizing different technologies including GSM, CDMA, Fixed Wireless and Fixed Wired (i.e. Landline) in April which indicates an increase when compared to the that of March 148,854,338.

In detail, MTN leads the way with 40.74% of the subscribers share with 65,209,222 users. Globacom follows with 39,523,811 subscribers (26.69%) and Airtel closely rivals with 39,199,383 (26.49%) and 9mobile continues to stumble with 16,148,635 users (10.09%).

If we go by the recent facts of MTN planning its IPO and 9mobile still struggling with its sale, there might not be any changes in the 1st and 4th position any time soon, although the battle continues between Globacom and Airtel for 2nd place.

The Major GSM Networks still Remains Nigerians Preference for Browsing

According to the reports, the GSM providers still have the lion share of the inter subscriber data with 99.40% (101,209,503 users) of users on their services. The CDMA providers have 0.14% share (30,309 users). The Fixed Wireless/wired has 0.10% share (9,898 users) and VoIP has 0.06% (301,903 users).

In a breakdown of the GSM providers figure, MTN Nigeria once again takes the reins with 38,147,450 subscribers (out of 101,209,503 subscribers). Despite imminent complains from subscribers, Globacom follows with 26,372,259 subscribers, Airtel follows closely with 25,842,573 subscribers and 9Mobile once again comes last with 10,847,221 subscribers to its credit.

This shows that despite the other licensed service providers, a vast majority of subscribers are still using internet data services from the Major GSM service providers. And with such a huge gap, the GSM service providers would still remain top guns in the years to come.

Related Post: NCC Report: Nigeria Now Has 100.9 Million GSM Internet Subscribers, MTN Leads the Way

Despite its Struggles, 9mobile Still has the Highest Inward Porting

Finally, the report states the numbers of inward and outward porting of each of the Major GSM providers and it could be seen that 9mobile is the biggest beneficiary of the porting system.

NB: The Incoming (Inward) Porting means the number of numbers ported from another service provider’s network into a service provider’s own network.

9mobile had a total of 1,865 subscribers joining its network in the month of April and lost 1,468 subscribers. MTN follows closely in terms of inward porting with 1,789 subscribers and 902 leaving subscribers while Globacom was the biggest loser with 1,484 porting away from the network while 398 came into its fold. Also, Airtel had 961 inward subscribers and lost 1,116 of its subscribers.