9mobile wins porting war but loses 356,826 subscribers in one month

In the last 12 months, 9mobile has welcomed the most subscribers who were existing on other networks.

However, the number of subscribers on the network have been reducing.

The telco, formerly known as Etisalat, rebranded to become 9mobile in November after Teleology outbid Airtel, Globacom, Smile and Helios.

Porting champion

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) introduced porting in April 2013; allowing subscribers to move from one network provider to the other without losing their telephone numbers.

Between June 2018 and May 2019, a total of 50,680 subscribers moved from the other networks to 9mobile.

This figure is higher than the cumulative number of subscribers that other networks gained through porting.

MTN, which is the largest telecommunication network in the country, gained 25,823 subscribers through porting. Airtel, 11989; and Globacom, 8434.

Commenting about the scorecard, Ken Ogujiofor, 9mobile vice president sales, said the data is proof that more subscribers appreciate how much value they will get when they migrate to a network that delivers high-quality voice and data services.

“We recognise that quality data and voice services are important in the day-to-day activities of Nigerians; therefore, we are passionately committed to providing the best services.

“To ensure optimum quality of service, 9mobile recently completed network upgrade of its 4G LTE in 6 major cities including Port Harcourt, Kano and Lagos and we are still expanding to an additional 15 cities before the end of Q3 2019.”

Exodus of subscribers

Between April and May, 9mobile lost 356,826 subscribers.

This is the biggest drop since the rebranding exercise in November 2018.

Since November when the acquisition was completed, the telco has witnessed a consistent rise in subscriber numbers.

Between November 2018 and March 2019, 9mobile gained 1.4 million subscribers. It witnessed its first customer loss in April, losing 118,257 subscribers.

Checks by TheCable showed that the telco witnessed a significant drop in subscriber numbers in the year preceding the rebranding.

Between November 2017 and November 2018, it lost a total of 1.7 million subscribers.