Globacom, MTN remain market leaders •As Nigeria records 118m active phone lines

MTN and Globacom remain market leaders in the Nigerian telecommunications industry, as the industry crosses 118 million active lines, the second quarter figure released by the industry regulator have revealed.

According to the latest subscriber data, released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), MTN Nigeria retained its lead in the telecoms market with more than eight million active lines, more than the combined subscribers of its two rivals—Globacom and Airtel Nigeria.

A key highlight of the NCC market information was that Globacom recorded 25,019,862 active connections as against 21,591,904 posted by Airtel Nigeria, indicating that the former was able to rake over 3.4 million active lines to outstrip its competitor by the middle of this year.

MTN Nigeria still remains the market leader with 55,238,430 active lines.


MTN also left no doubt as to the success of its market ramp up campaign, as it recorded an impressive 7.69 per cent growth within the quarter, though dropping from nine per cent the preceding quarter at mid-year 2013.

On the other hand, Airtel Nigeria recorded a negative growth over the preceding quarter with -8.78per cent as against Globacom which also raked 4.98 per cent growth over the previous quarter’s negative of -1.21 per cent.

Etisalat Nigeria, the market’s last entrant to roll out commercial services, has also recorded 15,303,647 active lines and 1.25 per cent growth over the preceding quarter’s growth of 1.35 per cent within the period under review.

The Mobile Telecommunications Limited (M-TEL), a subsidiary of the moribund Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) still has a subscriber base of 250,520, a figure it has maintained since 2012.