NCC Industry Stats for June 2019 Show that MTN Lost About 200,000 Internet Subscribers

The number of GSM internet subscribers in Nigeria fell in June for the first time since the same period last year according to the latest industry statistics from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). Available statistics show that internet subscribers fell by 332,338 from 122,624,417 in May to 122,292,079 in June.

Market leader, MTN, led the slump losing 178,103 subscribers to fall to 52,254,917. Distraught 9mobile continued its trend, losing 310,924 to fall to 9,039,553.

Globacom and Airtel were both gainers this time around. Globacom gained 196,816 new subscribers to have 29,022,349 total subscribers while Airtel gained 42,510 to have 31,975,260 total subscribers.

Newly ported GSM operator Visafone had no recorded data for June.

Despite the subscriber loss, MTN’s position as market leader was not challenged. The telco still continued its dominance with 37.56% of the subscriber share which translates to 65,259,375 users. Globacom followed with 46,594,981 subscribers (26.82%). Airtel seems to be losing the battle for 2nd place but follows closely with 45,929,995 (26.43%). 9mobile continues to trail the pack with 15,965,250 users (9.19%).

Broadband Adoption in Nigeria is Growing But At a Slow Pace

4G and 3G broadband subscription grew at a slow pace in Nigeria according to the NCC industry statistics for June 2019. The data showed that the current number of Nigeria 3G and 4G subscribers stand at 63,593,329 which indicates a 200,000 increase when compared to 63,244,610 in May.

This is not only a slow pace but a reduction when compared to 64,332,974 subscribers recorded in April. This could be associated with the difficulty in deploying the necessary terrestrial infrastructure needed such as fibres to boost penetration. This is despite corrective efforts by the NCC, licensing four Infracos last year.

Already built infrastructure may be improving the services of those already served but it is not reaching those who are still unserved or underserved. This also explains why major telecom companies in Nigeria are slow to introduce the 5G broadband since 4G adoption has not gotten to a significant level.

Porters are Migrating to 9Mobile

Despite losing thousands of customers, 9Mobile still continues to grab the highest number of new customers from other telecoms via porting. 8,661 users ported to the telco in June. This number is way higher than the network with the second highest porting activity, MTN, at 1,524.

Other telcos like Airtel and Globacom recorded the least with 241 and 420 incoming porters respectively.