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Nigeria’s telecom industry takes a huge hit with the loss of 4.95 million mobile subscribers

Chinedu Okafor
Nigeria’s telecom industry takes a huge hit with the loss of 4.95 million mobile subscribers
Nigeria’s telecom industry takes a huge hit with the loss of 4.95 million mobile subscribers
  • Nigeria's mobile subscriptions experience a sharp decline, losing 4.95 million subscribers in the first five months of 2023. 
  • MTN Nigeria, the largest telecom provider, witnesses the biggest drop in mobile subscriptions, falling from 91.95 million to 85.59 million during the same period. 
  • Factors such as the government's SIM-NIN linking policy, inflation, cash shortages, and global economic challenges contribute to the decline in mobile subscribers and pose challenges for the telecom industry.

In the first five months of 2023, 4.95 million mobile subscriptions in Nigeria were lost. Recent data from the Nigerian Communications Commission shows that as of May 2023, there were 220.93 million subscribers overall, down from 225.88 million in January 2023. Since reaching a peak of 226.84 million in February 2023, there has been a decline in overall mobile subscriptions for three months running.

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Additionally, the constant decline in mobile subscribers is the first since June 2021. A Federal Government policy that required telecoms to link SIMs to National Identification Numbers between 2020 and 2021 had an impact on the mobile sector and caused a sharp fall in mobile subscribers.

MTN Nigeria saw the biggest decline in mobile subscriptions among the telecoms, going from 91.95 million in January to 85.59 million in May. From 60.56 million to 60.53 million, Airtel saw a little decline. Globacom and 9mobile do somewhat better, increasing their respective customer bases from 60.34 million to 61.15 million and 13.03 million to 13.66 million.

Additionally, teledensity, the ratio of active telephone connections per 100 residents, fell from 118.51 percent in January to 115.91 percent in May, as reported by the Punch Newspaper, a Nigerian news agency.

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In the first quarter, MTN said that its users were being impacted by, among other things, inflation, cash shortages, and global macroeconomic concerns.

Karl Toriola, the Chief Executive Officer of MTN Nigeria, said: “We continued to experience headwinds in our operating environment in the first quarter of 2023.”

He added, “The impacts of the ongoing global macroeconomic and geopolitical developments on energy, food, and general inflation were exacerbated locally by petrol and cash shortages experienced during the period. This placed additional pressure on economic activity, consumers, and businesses.”

Chinedu Okafor Chinedu Okafor Chinedu is a Senior Reporter at Business Insider Africa with 5 years experience creating profoundly engaging and insightful content.

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