The number of active mobile subscriptions in Nigeria declined slightly by 0.07% to 220.71 million in August 2023 from 220.86 million in July 2023, according to new industry data from the Nigerian Communications Commission.
The Times reported that this suggests that in August, the number of mobile subscribers in the country fell by 145,026. This decrease occurred after a slight uptick in July, which came after four consecutive declines of 0.5% in June, 1% in May, 1% in April, and 0.4% in March.
The largest operator by subscriber count, MTN, saw a 335,744 decline in subscribers, which had a negative impact on the industry figures as a whole.
MTN’s overall number of active subscriptions decreased from 85.3 million in July 2023 to 85 million as a result.
Globacom, which increased its total subscriber count from 61.35 million in July to 61.39 million in August 2023, remained the second-largest operator in terms of subscriber counts.
While 9mobile acquired 36,543 new members, bringing its total active linked lines to 13.79 million, up from 13.75 million in July, Airtel, the third-largest operator by subscriber base, added 85,139 new subscribers in the month under review, reaching 60.1 million from 60 million.
The number of active connected lines reported by telecom providers has decreased, which has resulted in a decrease in the country’s teledensity, which measures the number of active telephone connections per 100 people residing in an area, from 115.70% in July to 115.63% today.
Broadband penetration dropped to 45.57% from 47.01% in July as a result of the modest reduction in mobile subscribers.
The Nigerian telecoms market may still have untapped potential and will likely hold its position as Africa’s largest mobile market for some time to come given the increasing trend towards more advanced technologies, a relatively untapped internet market, a rural population that is underserved, and favourable demographics.
