Telcos gained 195,313 subscribers in July — NCC

…as MTN retains lead in number of GSM subscribers

Telecommunication companies gained 195,313 subscribers in the month of July according to new industry statistics released by Nigerian Communications Commission(NCC) on Tuesday.

According to the data, MTN Communications has maintained lead in GSM data by operator with 73,123,732 subscribers.

Meanwhile, other network operators such as Airtel, Globacom and 9mobile recorded, 50,301,237; 51,137,799 and 12,908,092 respectively in July 2021.

In June the total number of subscribers was 187,275,547. In July it grew to 187,470,860. This is a sustained growth from the month of June, when telcos began to witness subscriber growth after the effect of sim ban sale began to wane.

In December 2020, the sale and registration of new SIM cards was banned by the Federal Government and a December 30 deadline for people to link their National Identity Number with their SIM cards was set.

In April, the Federal Government approved the activation of new SIM card registration with mandatory National Identity Number synchronisation.

In April, the Federal Government approved the activation of new SIM card registration with mandatory National Identity Number linking.

While the total subscriber base grew, telcos lost 430,733 internet subscribers as internet subscribers dropped from 139,814,913 in June to 139,384,180 in July. Broadband penetration also dropped from 39.97 per cent to 39.79 per cent.

Subscribers continued to port as 734 subscribers ported between the networks, an increase from the 616 subscribers that ported in June.