By Dipo Olowookere
Globacom is no longer the second largest telecommunications company in Nigeria, but Airtel, data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has revealed.
The toppling of Glo by Airtel was buoyed by the addition of 906,400 new subscribers to its network in the month of July 2019 to have a total 46,836,395 customers. The addition was the highest in the month under review.
According to the NCC, MTN remains Nigeria’s largest mobile network operator with 38 percent market share, Airtel has 26.8 percent of the market size, while Glo controls 26.7 percent, with 9mobile left with only 9 percent.
On the additions in July, the industry regulator said MTN added 119,821 new customers to hit 65,379,196 subscriber base, Glo garnered 118,087 new ‘converts’ to now have 46,713,068 customers, with 9mobile losing 225,283 subscribers in the month to reduce its network users to 15,739,967.
When it comes to data users, the NCC report showed that in July 2019, new 389,339 Internet users were gained, with Airtel raking more 428,012 subscribers to reach 32,403,272, while MTN gained 14,353 new users to hit 52,269,270 subscriber base, with Glo gaining 102,017 new users to hit 29,124,366 mobile Internet customers.
However, 9mobile recorded a decline in its Internet subscriber base in the month under review, losing 238,045 customers to now have 8,801,580 users at at the end of July 2019.
