Mobile subscriptions drop by 6.1 million as telcos count losses
The second quarter of 2023 has witnessed a steep decline in mobile subscriptions among Nigerians with a whopping 6.1 million drop.
According to the Nigerian Communications Commission’s data, the total number of mobile subscriptions in the country fell to 219.77 million as of the end of June 2023, from 225.82 million at the end of December 2022.
It would be recalled that MTN Nigeria and Airtel Africa recently declared a loss of N485.69 billion in the same period. Globacom and 9mobile also recorded mixed fortunes during the quarter under review.
While MTN is still retaining its leadership position with 84.66 million subscribers with a loss of 6.89 million mobile subscriptions, Airtel lost 137,828 subscriptions to close the quarter with 60.19 million.
However, Glo and 9mobile both gained subscriptions, as the former’s subscriptions grew by 533,582 to 61.33 million as of the end of March 2023, while 9mobile’s subscription base increased by 437,823 to 13.58 million.
Generally, the steady fall in mobile subscriptions has been blamed on the impact of the country’s economic crisis, especially the fluctuating foreign exchange regime, and the erosion of purchasing power.
In terms of teledensity, i.e the number of active telephone connections per 100 inhabitants living within an area, it has been a free fall as the number fell to 115.30 percent in the second quarter from 118.48 percent in the first quarter.
In it’s Q2, ,2023 report, MTN stated that increasing the minimum age requirement from 16 to 18, following a new NCC directive, affected its active subscriber base.
In Q2, we implemented the minimum age requirement for SIM registration from 16 to 18 years, which impacted the run rate of gross connections and active data subscribers in the quarter,” MTN stated.
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