MTN Nigeria, the largest network by market share, said it lost 7.6 million mobile subscribers in the first half of 2021.
According to the half-year report, active data users declined by approximately 52,000 to 32.5 million, while service revenue increased by 24.1 percent to N790.3 billion.
Karl Toriola, MTN Nigeria CEO, said the decline in mobile subscription was due to the regulatory restrictions on new SIM sales and activations, which was lifted on 19 April 2021.
“Although the initial run-rate of additions has been slower than usual due to new process requirements, we anticipate growth to normalise in the short-term as more of our acquisition centres are certified for SIM registration,” he said.
“To this end, we have acquired over 40,000 enrolment devices, which are being configured for this purpose.”
MTN Nigeria added that 37 million subscribers had submitted their NINs, representing around 54 percent of its subscriber base as of 26 July 2021.
The company also reported a 49.5 percent growth in profit, amounting to 141,83 billion and paid N73.29 billion to tax authorities within the first six months.