Technology
MTN Controls 39.73% Nigeria’s 152.46m Subscriber Base, Glo 24.56%
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
MTN Nigeria has continued to dominate the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) sub-sector of the telecommunications industry in Nigeria with the control of 39.73 percent of the market share.
Since its entry into the Nigerian market in 2001, when it was granted licence to operate alongside Econet, which has since metamorphosed to Airtel, MTN has continued to spread like wildfire in the country, becoming the preferred network of GSM users.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the total number of telephone subscribers stood at 154.52 million, equivalent to an increase of 12.27 million subscribers every year since 2005.
However, growth has been declining more recently, possibly as a result of high market penetration leaving less room for large expansion, FSDH Research stated in its Monthly Economic & Financial Market Outlook: June 2017.
As at first quarter of 2017, there were 152.46 million subscribers, compared with 154.52 million in September 2016, representing 1.33 percent decline.
The GSM subscribers contribute 99.69 percent to the total subscribers as at Q1 2017, followed by Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) with 0.14 percent of the total, while fixed wired and wireless make up 0.08 percent and 0.02 percent respectively.
But MTN remains the largest provider of GSM subscriptions, accounting for 39.73 percent. The second largest provider was Globacom, which accounted for 24.56 percent of subscriptions, Airtel share was 22.80 percent, while Etisalat accounts for the least number of subscriptions at 12.91 percent of the total.
Analysts at FSDH Research said in the report that the total number of internet subscribers with the GSM operators stood at 89.97 million as at March 31, 2017.
The proportion of GSM users with internet subscriptions dropped in 2016 to 59.61 percent, from 65.26 percent recorded in 2015. This drop was caused by MTN and Etisalat.
As at end-March 2017, the internet subscribers of the GSM carriers were: MTN 30.51 million; Globacom 27.02 million; Airtel 19.42 million and; Etisalat 13 million.
In Q1 2017, MTN’s Share of GSM internet connection was 33.92 percent; Globacom’s was 30.03 percent; Airtel’s was 21.59 percent; and Etisalat’s was 14.46 percent.
The report further said there were a total of 41,419 incoming porters in Q1 2017, a decrease from 49,547 in Q4 2016, and a decline of 19.26 percent from 51,301 porters recorded in Q1 2016. Quarter-on-quarter, Airtel and MTN recorded increases, while Etisalat and Globacom recorded decreases.
Although Etisalat remained the largest provider, their share fell from 77.52 percent in the final quarter of 2016 to 65.79 percent in the first quarter of 2017.
By contrast Airtel increased their share by nearly 10 percent points, from 6.95 percent to 16.55 percent, and therefore became the second largest destination for incoming porters.
MTN also increased their share, from 8.83 percent to 11.63 percent, but fell to being the third largest destination due to Airtel’s larger increase.
Globacom remained the smallest destination of incoming porters for the third consecutive quarter, and their share fell from 6.69 percent to 6.03 percent between Q4 2016 and Q1 2017. The resurgence of the Nigerian economy would have a positive impact on the telecommunication sector.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
An additional $200,000 will be invested in Artificial Intelligence (AI) media literacy initiatives across Sub-Saharan Africa, TikTok announced during its third annual Sub-Saharan Africa Safer Internet Summit in Nairobi, Kenya.
The platform hosted government officials, regulators, online safety partners and industry leaders for the event, reinforcing its commitment to collaborative approaches to online safety.
The funds will be provided in ad credits to help support local organisations in the region to expand AI media literacy.
This investment builds on the company’s initial $2 million AI Literacy Fund, launched in November 2025, which awarded 20 global non-profits to create content that boosts public understanding of AI.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, TikTok initially supported three organisations to advance digital literacy and combat misinformation.
“With the rapid advancement of AI, we are committed to educating our community online, so they feel empowered to have responsible experiences with AI, whether that’s as viewers or creators.
“We are partnering with trusted local organisations that communities already know and rely on, because their expertise and deep local connections are essential to making AI literacy programs truly impactful,” the Global Head of Partnerships, Elections and Market Integrity at TikTok, Mr Valiant Richey, stated.
Earlier, the Head of Government Relations and Public Policy for Sub-Saharan Africa at TikTok, Ms Tokunbo Ibrahim, said, “As we host the 3rd Annual Safer Internet Summit here in Kenya, our mission is clear: to share learnings, insights, tackle common challenges and collaboratively advance actionable solutions that protect citizens online.
“By bringing together a diverse coalition of policymakers, tech innovators, and creators, we are ensuring that the conversations we have at this Summit are all-inclusive and lead to a more resilient digital landscape.”
The summit featured expert panels and discussions on critical topics, including TikTok’s Trust and Safety efforts, protecting young people online, and policy frameworks for responsible AI governance.
A key highlight of the event was showcasing how TikTok uses AI to transform how people share their creativity and discover new passions, while ensuring the community remains safe through transparent and responsible AI practices.
The platform also shared more about how recent advancements in AI are helping the platform moderate content faster and more consistently at scale, by improving automated moderation and empowering human teams with better moderation tools.
With over 100 million pieces of content uploaded daily to TikTok, these advances, which work alongside human moderation teams, are helping get violative content down faster, reducing the likelihood of the community seeing it.
According to the latest Community Guidelines Enforcement Q3 2025, TikTok removed over 14 million videos across Sub-Saharan Africa, with 96.7 per cent detected and removed proactively using automated technology, underscoring TikTok’s commitment to proactive moderation and swift action.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The winners of the Technovation 4.0 Hackathon, themed The Wicked Hackathon, organised by Interswitch, have been given N10 million in cash prizes for their efforts.
At the one-day finale event, which took place on Wednesday, March 4, 2026, at the Interswitch Innovation Lab and Co-Working Space, the money was shared among the top teams whose innovative solutions stood out during the rigorous multiple phases of the competition.
Team Quickteller Fashion emerged as the overall winner, securing the grand prize of N4 million for a solution that impressed judges with its originality, practicality, and strong strategic relevance. Team Kampe claimed second position with N2.5 million, while Team Stable placed third, receiving N1.5 million. Up to N300,000 worth of cash prizes were also awarded to the fourth, fifth and sixth qualifying teams.
For nine months, cross-functional teams from across the organisation collaborated to conceptualise, validate, develop, and refine solutions, moving from raw ideas to minimum viable products (MVPs) with ready-to-market potential and deployment across the business.
The atmosphere at the grand finale reflected that of preparation and anticipation as the top 9 teams presented their innovations through live demonstrations and detailed pitches, fielding questions from a distinguished panel of judges before the top three winners were selected. Each presentation highlighted rigorous validation processes, thoughtful market considerations, and a strong emphasis on measurable impact.
While many of the solutions remain confidential due to their strategic relevance, the diversity and depth of ideas showcased during the hackathon’s final underscored the organisation’s growing culture of intrapreneurship and structured innovation. The projects illustrated how technology-driven thinking can unlock efficiencies, strengthen operational capabilities, and open new pathways for growth across the digital payments and commerce ecosystem.
“Technovation continues to reflect who we are as an organisation, bold, forward-thinking, and deeply committed to building impactful solutions from within. Over the years, we have seen ideas conceived during this programme evolve into meaningful capabilities that strengthen our ecosystem.
“The passion, discipline, and ingenuity demonstrated by our teams this year reinforce our belief in the power of African innovation to solve complex challenges and shape the future of technology on the continent,” the Chief Innovation Officer for Interswitch, Ms Adaobi Okerekeocha, stated.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The language support for its AI Search features has been expanded by Google, with the inclusion of Yoruba and Hausa in Nigeria.
This is part of a broader effort to make AI more inclusive across the continent, with support now extending to a total of 13 African languages.
Under the AI Overviews and AI Mode, speakers of both Nigerian languages can utilise AI-powered Search experiences in their mother tongue for quick summaries and conversational exploration.
This means existing AI features in Google Search are now accessible to people like the student in Kano asking a question in Hausa, and the trader in Ibadan seeking advice in Yorùbá.
By addressing language barriers, this update ensures that technology reflects the identity and culture of the people it serves. With this expansion, more people can now use AI Mode to ask complex questions in their preferred language, while exploring the web more deeply and naturally through text or voice.
The 13 languages now supported across Africa include Afrikaans, Akan, Amharic, Hausa, Kinyarwanda, Afaan Oromoo, Somali, Sesotho, Kiswahili, Setswana, Wolof, Yorùbá, and isiZulu.
These languages were chosen based on the vibrant search activity across the continent, ensuring that our AI experiences reach the communities that need them most.
Commenting on the development, the Communications and Public Affairs Manager for Google in West Africa, Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, said, “Building a truly global Search goes far beyond translation — it requires a nuanced understanding of local information.
“With the advanced multimodal and reasoning capabilities of our custom version of Gemini in Search, we’ve made huge strides in language understanding, so our most advanced AI search capabilities are locally relevant and useful in each new language we support.
“This is about ensuring Nigerians can converse with Search in their mother tongues, making information more helpful for everyone.”
To use AI Overviews and AI Mode in the local language, users must open the Google app on an Android or iOS device, or via the Web. They are required to tap on AI Mode within the Search experience. Thereafter, they can type or speak the question in their preferred language, such as Hausa or Yorùbá, and let the AI guide the journey.
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