April 22, 2024/CSL Research
According to recently released industry data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the country’s active mobile subscriptions increased slightly by 0.72% to 219.97 million in February 2024 from 218.40 million in January 2024, driven primarily by significant subscriber gains reported by MTN and Airtel, the country’s two largest operators.
This indicates that the country’s mobile subscriptions increased by 1.57 million subscribers in February. The increase in subscribers came despite telcos implementing the NCC’s February directive to disconnect subscribers whose SIMs are not linked to their NIN.
An increase in MTN subscribers (up 1.1 million), the largest operator by subscriber number, increased the overall industry numbers, bringing its total active subscriptions to 80.9 million from 79.78 million in January. Airtel added 434,175 new subscribers during the month under review. This increased its subscriber database from 62.6 million in January to 63 million in February. Globacom also saw an increase, adding 176,756 new subscribers during the month.
Globacom reported 62.1 million active subscriptions in February, compared to 61.9 million the previous month. However, 9mobile, the fourth mobile operator saw a decline for the month as the company’s subscriptions fell by 151,517 subscribers to 13.6 million active subscriptions in February 2024, down from 13.8 million in January.
The country’s teledensity, which measures the number of active telephone connections per 100 inhabitants in an area, increased slightly from 100.75% in January to 101.47%. The increase in mobile subscriber numbers also led to a rise in broadband penetration to 43.08% from 42.53% in January. Our outlook on the telecoms sector remains positive in the medium to long term. We anticipate sustained growth driven by Nigeria’s expanding population, the
shift towards a digital economy, increased smartphone usage, growing digital awareness, rapid expansion of 4G networks, and the ongoing rollout of 5G spectrum.
However, the recent directive from the NCC requiring telcos to disconnect subscribers whose SIM cards are not linked to their NINs may lead to a short-term decline in mobile subscriber numbers. This poses a slight risk to telco revenue growth in 2024.
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CSL Nigeria Daily – 22 April 2024 – Telecoms.pdf
