NCC: Telcos lost 3.7m subscribers in April

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says telecommunication companies lost 3.7 million active subscribers in April 2021. 

The commission stated this in its latest industry statistics report released on Tuesday.

In December 2020, NCC directed telcos in the country to suspend the sale and reactivation of new subscribers identification module (SIM) cards, explaining that it was embarking on an audit of the subscriber registration database.

It lifted the suspension on April 19, 2021, but placed national identification number (NIN) registration as a mandatory requirement for registering new SIM cards. 

The ban on SIM cards sales stifled the Nigerian economy in Q1 2021 as the telecommunications sector posted a single-digit growth.

According to the latest report, the number of active subscribers fell from 192.41 million in March to 188.70 million in April.

The statistics showed that Globacom was the top loser among the telcos with 2.31 million subscribers, followed by MTN with 1.10 million, while Airtel and 9mobile lost 207,542 and 71,228 subscribers, respectively.

A further breakdown showed that Globacom subscribers dropped from 52,918,718 in March to 50,598,855 in April; MTN lost a total of 74,819,864 subscribers in April from 75,927,231 in March.

Also, Airtel subscribers fell from 50,384,950 in March to 50,177,408 in April; while 9mobile dropped from 12,850,383 in March to 12,779,155 in April.

However, by market share, MTN was the largest operator with 39.72 percent, Globacom with 26.86 percent, Airtel (26.64 percent), and 9mobile (6.78 percent).

The NCC did not record any data for porting for the fourth consecutive month.