September 12, 2023/CSL Research

Based on new industry data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Nigeria’s active mobile subscriptions increased marginally by 0.4% to 220.9 million in July 2023 compared to 220.1 million recssorded in June 2023. This indicates that the country’s mobile subscriptions increased by 770,889 subscribers in July. This increase comes after four consecutive marginal declines in mobile subscriptions by 0.5% in June, 1.0% in April and May and 0.4% in March.

Further analysis of the data revealed that MTN, the largest operator by subscriber numbers, boosted the total industry database with a 678,008 increase in its subscriptions. This brought its total active subscriptions to 85.3 million from 84.6 million in June 2023. Globacom maintained its position as the second-largest operator by subscriber number in July 2023, adding 23,565 new subscriptions in the month to reach 61.4 million total subscriptions from 61.3 million in June. 9mobile also gained 176,105 new subscriptions, which brought its total active connected lines to 13.7 million from 13.5 million in June. However, Airtel, the third-largest operator by subscriber number lost 106,789 subscriptions in the month under review to 60 million from 60.2 million in June.

Given the increase in active connected lines reported by operators, the country’s teledensity, which measures the number of active telephone connections per 100 inhabitants living within an area rose to 115.70 from 115.30% recorded in June. The slight improvement in active mobile subscription numbers indicates that telcos may have completed the disconnection of lines that have not been used for any revenue-generating activity in the last 6 months, as contained in a recent directive by the NCC. The disconnections led to a steady decline in subscriptions between March and June this year. We expect to see a continuous recovery in mobile subscriptions in the coming months.

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