NCC August Report: Telecom loses over 100,000 Internet Subscribers

NCC (Nigerian Communications Commission) report for August 2019 has revealed that telecom operators in the country lost over 100,000 internet subscribers. According to the report, the total number of mobile internet subscribers as of August 2019 was 122,585,515 as against 122,681,418 subscribers in July. It was initially recorded that mobile subscribers in June 2019 declined by 332,338 to total 122,292,079 – from 122,624,417 in May 2019.

The NCC report also reveals that MTN, Nigeria’s biggest telco lost more subscribers than its competitors. MTN lost over 600,000 subscribers, as their numbers dropped to 51,602,025 from the 52,269,270 recorded in July 2019. These numbers, however, did not affect their market position as number one.

Airtel follows MTN as second in the market with a total of 32,753,406 subscribers, Globacom is third on the market place with 29,521,597, while 9mobile retained fourth place in the market with 8,625,005 subscribers.

The Nigerian telecom market share was as follows; MTN: 37.20% with 65,707,899 subscribers; Airtel: 27.13% with 47,921,891 subscribers; Globacom 26.76% with 47,265,628 and 9mobile: 9% with 15,602,255 subscribers. Visafone accounts for 0.07% of the market share with 119,386 subscribers.

Although 9mobile lost more internet subscribers, the telco remains Nigeria’s best telecom with a porting option according to the report. The telco recorded 7,316 incoming porters, making almost 70% porting activity for August 2019.

While mobile internet subscribers suffered a decline, Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) subscribers grew by over 3,000 new subscribers in August totaling 380,274 subscribers.