- The Nigerian Communications Commission said Nigeria’s active telecommunications subscribers increased to 169.3 million in January 2025
- It said MTN Nigeria’s market share increased to 51.7 per cent from 84.6 million subscribers in December 2024 to 87.5 million subscribers in January 2025
- Analysis of porting activities among telecom operators showed that 8,708 subscribers moved from one network to another in January
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says Nigeria’s active telecommunications subscribers increased by 4.391 million from 164,926,599 in December 2024 to 169,318,076 in January 2025.
The NCC disclosed this in an industry statistics on its website.
The regulator also stated that the recovery followed a period of decline, which saw subscriptions fall to 154,904,827 in September 2024, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
The NCC attributed the drop in subscriptions in 2024 to the deactivation of over 42 million SIM cards in February 2024 and the sector’s rebasing in September 2024.
It added that the increase in telecom subscriber base was driven by MTN Nigeria and Airtel, which significantly increased their subscriber base, increasing the country’s teledensity.
“The growth was driven by two network operators, MTN and Airtel that recorded an increase in their subscriber base in the month under review.
“This growth momentum has also boosted the country’s teledensity, which measures the penetration of active telephone connections to 78.10 per cent, marking a significant increase from the 76.08 per cent recorded in December 2024,” it said.
Market share of four telecom operators
The NCC data also showed that MTN Nigeria increased its market share to 51.7 per cent from 84.6 million subscribers in December 2024 to 87.5 million subscribers in January 2025, solidifying its position as the leading telecom company in Nigeria.
It said Airtel expanded its subscriber base to 57.6 million in January 2025 from 56.6 million in December 2024, accounting for 34.1 per cent of the market share.
The data also stated that Globacom, which faced a decline in subscribers earlier in 2024 due to a regulatory audit, was gradually showing signs of recovery, growing its subscriber base from 20.1 million in December 2024 to 20.5 million in January 2025.
On the other hand, 9mobile’s market share continued to decline, as its subscriber base remained unchanged at 3.2 million for three consecutive months, according to the data.
“This decline is a far cry from 9mobile’s erstwhile dominance, when it boasted 23.4 million subscribers and a 15.7 per cent market share in 2015.
“The company’s stagnant subscriber base, which has remained unchanged at 3.2 million for three consecutive months, further accentuates this decline,” the NCC’s data noted.
8,708 subscribers ported from one network to another in January
The data further revealed the trend of porting activities among the four mobile network operators in January.
The NCC’s report on incoming and outgoing porting activities of mobile network operators showed that a total of 8,708 subscribers moved from one network to another in January.
It stated that MTN Nigeria lost 1,188 customers, Airtel recorded 399 outgoing porting, Globacom recorded 405, while 9mobile recorded 6,716 customers who ported from the network to others in January.
The report also noted that MTN Nigeria recorded the highest incoming porting as it gained 5,551 customers from other operators in January 2025.
It added that Airtel recorded 2,414 incoming porting, Globacom gained 736 customers, while 9mobile recorded only seven incoming porting in January.
The report showed that there were more incoming and outgoing porting activities in January 2025 than in December 2024, as a total of 2,998 activities were recorded in December 2024, compared to 8,708 recorded in January 2025.
The NCC data stated that there was an increase of 5,710 in mobile number portability activities in January 2025 compared to December 2024.
Nigeria’s telecom sector loses 24.6 million subscribers in 1 year
Meanwhile, TheRadar earlier reported that between 2023 and 2024, Nigeria’s telecommunications sector lost 24.6 million subscribers as the number of active internet users decreased from 163.8 million in 2023 to 139.2 million in 2024.
According to the latest data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the decline was primarily driven by the deactivation of SIM cards not linked to verifiable National Identity Numbers (NINs) and the correction of discrepancies by mobile network operators.
