Telecoms Subscribers Hit 153m As Airtel Tops

By Dipo Olowookere

Telecommunication provider Airtel topped the chat of new subscribers for the month of September with 400,847 new subscriptions.

The number topped Globacom who recorded 215,700 new subscribers for the month under review. MTN was next with 60,558,569 and Etisalat recorded 64,870 new subscribers.

The figure is according to a subscriber/operator data by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) which also showed that telecommunication subscribers in Nigeria had hit 153.2 million. It said that the active telecommunications service customers increased by 495,426 in September as against the figure in August which stood at 152,776,155. According to the data, 152,836,997 of the 153,271,581 active numbers subscribed to the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network services. The GSM operators’ active customers increased by 551,677 from 152,285,320 subscribers recorded in August.

The reports stated that of the GSM operators, MTN had 60,558,569 users in September, which was the same figure recorded in August. Globacom figure increased in September by 215,700, giving a total of 36,967,712 customers as against 36,752,012 in August. Airtel had 32,775,916 subscribers in the month under review, adding 400,847 users to the August record of 32,375,069.

Etisalat, however, recorded a reduction in customers by 64,870, giving a customer base of 22,534,800 as against 22,599,670 users in August. The Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) operators had 276,304 active users in September, showing a decrease of 52,789 from 329,093 customers they had in August. Between the two surviving CDMA service providers, Visafone’s customers reduced to 271,844, as it lost 52,789 users in August to record 324,633, while Multi-Links maintained 4,460 customers in August.

The monthly subscriber/operator data showed that the Fixed Wireless network’s (landline) consumers decreased to 30,716 in September, as they lost 4,072 customers from their record of 34,788 in August. Also between the two Fixed Wireless operators, Visafone had 30,288 subscribers in September, losing 4,072 users from the August record of 34,360; while Multi-Links maintained its August record of 428 customers.

It also revealed that the Fixed Wired operators (landline) increased their subscriber base by 610, giving a total of 127,564 users in September, as against 126,954 recorded in August. In the Fixed Wired arena, MTN Fixed moved from 8,586 in August to 8,591 in September, thereby adding five users, Glo Fixed had 12,503 users in September, adding 677 to the August record of 11,826. IpNX network moved from 2,665 subscriber base in August to 2,587, reducing its customers by 78 in September. It said that the 21st Century network had 103,887 customers in September, recording an increase of 10 users to its August record of 103,877.

The regulatory body said in accordance with Section 89 Subsection 3(c) of the Nigerian Communications Act 2003 mandated it to monitor and report the state of telecommunications industry. ”The commission is mandated to provide statistical analyses and identify industry trends with regard to services, tariffs, operators, technology, subscribers, issues of competition and dominance. “This is with a view to identifying areas where regulatory intervention will be needed. ”The commission regularly conducts studies, surveys and produces reports on the telecommunications industry. ”Therefore, telecommunications operators are obligated, under the terms of the licenses, to provide NCC with such data on a regular basis for analytical review and publishing,” it said.