MTN Nigeria reaches record 100.9m subscriber base

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MTN Nigeria added more than 2.2 million subscribers in July, taking its customer base to a record 100.86 million and making it the first telecommunications operator in Africa to cross the 100 million-subscriber mark.

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Data released by the Nigerian Communications Commission, the industry regulator, on Wednesday showed that MTN’s subscriber base rose from 98.64 million in June to 100.86 million in July, representing a monthly increase of 2.22 million subscribers.

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The growth came as Nigeria’s telecoms market continued its recovery from the decline in active lines triggered by the enforcement of the National Identification Number and Subscriber Identification Module linkage policy.

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The NCC data showed that total active mobile subscriptions increased to 195.11 million in July from 192.23 million in June, adding about 2.88 million lines in a month.

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The latest figure, however, remains below the more than 200 million subscriptions recorded in Nigeria before the full impact of the NIN-SIM enforcement exercise. The country’s subscriber count had reached about 207.6 million in October 2020 and climbed to a reported 214.35 million in October 2022.

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The NIN-SIM linkage policy was introduced in late 2020, with enforcement measures subsequently leading to the disconnection of millions of lines that had not met the identity-verification requirements.

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The telco led by Chief Executive Officer Karl Toriola accounted for most of the increase, further strengthening its position as Nigeria’s largest mobile network operator.

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Airtel followed with 66.76 million subscribers, while Globacom and 9mobile had 23.63 million and 3.61 million respectively.

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The figures give MTN about 51.7 per cent of Nigeria’s active mobile subscriptions, compared with Airtel’s 34.3 per cent, Globacom’s 12.1 per cent and 9mobile’s 1.9 per cent.

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Telecoms remain vital to the country’s digital economy, with mobile networks providing the main channel through which millions of Nigerians access voice, data and digital financial services.

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MTN Nigeria was incorporated in 2000 and began operations in 2001 after MTN won Nigerian GSM licences, while its parent company, MTN Group, was founded in South Africa in 1994 and grew into one of Africa’s largest telecom groups. MTN Group is headquartered in South Africa and currently operates in 19 countries across Africa and the Middle East

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