Nigeria’s GSM Subscriber Base Exceeds 155 Million …. MTN Maintains Dominance

Ronke Kehinde/

The number of mobile subscribers in Nigeria rose to 155.06 million in January from 154.53 million the previous month, according to latest statistics from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

At the end of January, the teledensity was at 110.76 percent compared to 110.76 in December.

MTN Nigeria extended its lead to 62.25 million customers or 40.24 percent of GSM subscribers, from 61.84 million in December.

Globacom came second with 37.22 million customers, down slightly from 37.36 million the previous month, while Airtel Nigeria grew to 34.67 million from 34.12 million subscribers in December. Etisalat Nigeria recorded a further drop in customers, to 20.52 million from 20.81 million.

The number of internet users in Nigeria declined to 91.27 million in January from 91.88 million in December.

MTN ended January with 31.02 million subscribers, a drop of 737,964 subscribers from December 2016. Airtel had 19.62 million internet users in January, after adding 254,940 customers compared to December.

Etisalat fell to 13.56 million customers from the 13.75 million in December, while Globacom had 27.08 million customers browsing the internet on its network in January, an increase of 66,094 users from December 2016.