MTN Nigeria has maintained its leadership position among GSM operators in the country with active subscribers for telephony services of 83,331,682 as of October 2020, representing 40.14% of the entire operators’ subscriber base.
According to the report released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) MTN is followed by Airtel with 56,214,072 telephony subscribers (27.08%), Globacom 55,079,362 (26.53%), and 9Mobile with 12,953,121 subscribers (6.24%).
The telephony subscribers recorded a 1.3% month-on-month growth, from 204,869,652 recorded in September 2020 to 207,578,237 as of October 2020; as well as 15.3% year-on-year growth from 180,000,075 in the corresponding period in 2019 (October 2019).
The internet subscribers recorded a 0.9% month-on-month growth from 151,063,413 recorded in September 2020 to 152,481,376 as of October 2020; as well as 23.8% year-on-year growth from 123,123,676 in the corresponding period in 2019 (October 2019).
In telephony subscription and as of October 2020, MTN recorded 0.8% month-on-month growth as well as 26.5% year-on-year; whereas in internet subscription, it grew by 1.0% month-on-month and 24.6% year-on-year.
Similarly, Airtel recorded 1.7% month-on-month growth as well as14.5% year-on-year on telephony subscription; whereas in internet subscription, it grew by 1.1% month-on-month and 21.2% year-on-year.
Globacom recorded 1.5% month-on-month growth as well as 9.6% year-on-year on telephony subscriptions; whereas in internet subscriptions, it grew by 0.8% month-on-month and 36% year-on-year.
9Mobile recorded 1.8% month-on-month growth but dipped by 12.4% year-on-year on telephony subscription; whereas in internet subscription, it grew by 0.3% month-on-month and dipped 12.6% year-on-year.
In October 2020, only 73.5% of the operators’ subscribers on telephony services subscribed to internet services; 73.7% in September 2020 and 68.4% in October 2019.
According to the report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the information and communication sector contributed 9.57% to the overall Gross Domestic Products (GDP) in the country’s third-quarter in 2020.
No doubt, the telecom sector has remained resilient amid the COVID-19 pandemic given the surge in the demand for data usage and increase in total mobile subscribers.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, several organizations have adjusted to remote workspace/digital workspace – a new way of life in the office space that is expected to increase data services, and further enhances growth in the sector in the short to medium term.