Telecom Growth Driven By MTN & Airtel

With 169.3 million active mobile subscribers, up from 164.9 million in December 2024, Nigeria’s telecoms industry had tremendous development in January 2025.

The rise in mobile subscriptions to MTN and Airtel, which grew their customer bases throughout the review period, was the main driver of the growth.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) released industry figures that support this.

This strong comeback, according to the telecommunications regulator, came after a period of decline that saw subscribers fall to 154,904,827 in September 2024.

It claimed that the bulk deactivation of more than 42 million SIM cards in February 2024 and the sector’s rebasing in September 2024 were the main causes of the subscription drop.

Due to the NCC’s implementation of the NIN-SIM linkage policy in December 2023, which prohibited SIMs without submitted or verified NINs in February 2024, the telecom industry suffered severe losses as unverified SIMs were excluded from networks. However, the most recent data indicates a continued recovery from the sector’s prior decline.

Nonetheless, the NCC observed that the industry had steadily recovered as the outcome was a substantial decline in active mobile subscribers, from 218.4 million in January 2024 to 169.3 million in January 2025, with September 2024 seeing the lowest number at 154.9 million. MTN cut 4.2 million lines, and Airtel reported 4.9 million awaiting NIN verifications.

“MTN and Airtel, two network carriers that saw increases in their customer bases during the reviewed month, were the main drivers of the rise.

Nigeria’s teledensity, which counts the number of active phone connections per 100 residents in a region, increased from 76.08% in December 2024 to 78.10% as a result of the increase in active subscribers.

With the addition of 2.9 million new customers in January 2025, MTN increased its market share to 51.7%, reaching 87.5 million consumers, up from 84.6 million in December 2024.

According to the report, Airtel also showed tenacity by growing its subscriber base from 56.6 million to 57.6 million, boosting its market share to 34.1%.

Globacom, which had a drop in customers earlier in 2024 as a result of a regulatory audit, was progressively exhibiting indications of recovery, according to both previous and current NCC figures. Globacom’s customer base increased from 20.1 million in December 2024 to 20.5 million in January 2025, according to the report.

However, the figures indicated that 9mobile’s market share kept dropping as 9mobile’s subscriber count remained stagnant at 3.2 million for three consecutive months, continuing its decreasing trajectory.

With 23.4 million users and a 15.7% market share in 2015, 9mobile’s previous supremacy is a long cry from this decrease. 

With 8,708 users moving networks in January 2025 compared to 2,998 in December 2024, the survey also noted a spike in mobile number portability.

“This decline is further accentuated by the company’s stagnant subscriber base, which has stayed at 3.2 million for three consecutive months,” the statement read.

According to industry data on porting operations, 9mobile, Nigeria’s fourth mobile network provider, had 6716 users leave its network in January, continuing to see a drop in its subscriber base. Globacom lost 405 subscribers, MTN lost 1,188, while Airtel saw 399 outbound portings.

In January, 8708 users switched networks, according to the NCC’s report on mobile network operators’ incoming and outbound porting activity.

In comparison to 9mobile, the analysis revealed that other providers observed negligible outward porting numbers.

In January, MTN lost 1188 customers, Airtel lost 399 outbound portings, Globacom lost 405, and 9mobile lost 6716, according to the NCC.

In contrast, Globacom recorded 736 incoming consumers, Airtel added 2,414 porting users, and MTN acquired 5,551 new customers from other networks. In January 2025, 9mobile only added seven new porting subscribers, highlighting its difficulties in the market.

The data indicates that January 2025 had a higher volume of incoming and departing porting activity than December 2024.

When comparing January 2025 to December 2024, the research found that mobile number portability activity increased by 5710.

Nigeria’s internet use increased from 973,455.35 TB in December 2024 to 1,000,930.60 TB in January 2025, surpassing the 1-million-terabyte threshold.

The surge indicates a greater dependence on digital services, which may be attributed to a number of causes, including social networking, e-commerce, remote employment, and video streaming.

Nigeria’s 5G adoption rate increased from 2.46% in December 2024 to 2.54% in January 2025.

Despite the slow growth, the consistent rise indicates a growing need for speedier internet, especially in cities where 5G networks are being installed.

The continued growth of telecom infrastructure is consistent with the increasing trend in 5G adoption. The fact that 5G still only makes up a small portion of mobile connection overall, however, suggests that further acceptance will be contingent upon additional network development and the affordability of 5G-compatible devices.