Joy Agwunobi
The Nigerian telecommunications market has long been one of the country’s most hotly contested sectors, with the four major networks, with MTN, Airtel, Globacom and 9mobile now officially rebranded as T2, constantly battling to outperform one another in service delivery, network quality, speed, and customer retention But the 2024 performance indicators released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) show that competition may no longer be as tight as it once was.
The 2024 market data shows MTN Nigeria not only defending its long-held leadership position, but pulling even further ahead of the pack across nearly every major performance metric. Whether in subscriber numbers, traffic volumes, SMS activity or revenue share, the gap between MTN and its closest competitors widened significantly, underscoring the operator’s tightening grip on the country’s mobile ecosystem.
The NCC’s latest figures point to an operator whose scale, sustained investments and network reach have propelled it into an increasingly commanding position even as rivals continue to make strategic pushes of their own.
Below is a detailed breakdown of how MTN emerged as the clear market leader in 2024.
Subscriber base: half the market in MTN’s hands
A look at the subscriber data provides the first indication of this dominance. MTN closed 2024 with 84,607,831 active voice subscribers, maintaining a commanding lead over its closest rival, Airtel, which finished the year with 56,619,381 users. Globacom followed with 20,137,951 subscribers, while T2 recorded 3,283,270 users.
In market share terms, the distribution placed MTN at 51.39 percent of the entire Mobile GSM market, Airtel at 34.39 percent, Globacom at 12.23 percent, and T2 at 1.99 percent as of December 2024. What these numbers mean in practical terms is that one out of every two mobile users in Nigeria was on MTN’s network by the end of the year, a position that underscores the company’s long-running strategy of expanded coverage, aggressive customer retention programmes, and sustained penetration into underserved rural communities.
Voice traffic: 139.7 billion minutes and counting
MTN’s dominance did not stop at subscriber figures. It extended into voice traffic, one of the most revealing indicators of customer engagement. NCC’s data shows that total outgoing local and national traffic across all networks in 2024 stood at 226.27 billion minutes, while incoming traffic reached 223.98 billion minutes. MTN accounted for the largest portion of this national traffic, handling 139.39 billion outgoing minutes and 139.78 billion incoming minutes. By contrast, Globacom managed 19.61 billion outgoing minutes and 13.53 billion incoming minutes, Airtel handled 65.38 billion outgoing and 69.34 billion incoming minutes, while T2 processed just 1.51 billion outgoing and 1.28 billion incoming minutes.
MTN’s share of the total underscores its deep customer engagement and shows that traditional voice calls remain vital, especially in regions where data access is unreliable or too expensive for sustained OTT use. Its dominance in this category is even more notable given the widespread adoption of WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and other data-driven communication platforms.
Revenue performance: MTN captures the largest share
In revenue terms, the telecom industry recorded one of its strongest years yet. Mobile network operators collectively posted ₦5.33 trillion in 2024, a significant jump from the ₦4.01 trillion reported in 2023, representing a 32.72 percent increase. Although the NCC’s report did not provide operator-specific earnings, MTN’s commanding subscriber base and traffic volumes leave little doubt about its positioning. With its 51.39 percent market share, the operator’s estimated revenue for 2024 exceeds ₦2.4 trillion, reinforcing its profile as the country’s most profitable telecom entity. MTN attributes this performance to increased data usage, an average revenue per user of $2.09, and continuous optimisation of its network architecture, which improved service quality and reduced downtime throughout the year.
SMS activity: MTN still leads despite industry-wide decline
The SMS segment, although declining nationally, further highlighted MTN’s scale. According to the Commission’s data, the total national SMS sent and received in 2024 stood at 20.58 billion, representing a 10.43 percent decline from the 22.97 billion recorded in 2023. Outgoing messages dropped by 9.39 percent year-on-year, while incoming SMS fell by 11.41 percent.
Despite this contraction driven largely by the rise of instant messaging platforms, MTN still held the largest volume of text messaging activity. The operator recorded 7.23 billion outgoing messages and 6.96 billion incoming messages, amounting to 14.19 billion SMS exchanges during the year. This dominance suggests that a significant segment of its subscriber base, particularly those in low-smartphone or low-data regions still relies heavily on traditional messaging channels.
Other operators posted considerably smaller figures. Globacom’s outgoing and incoming SMS volumes stood at 519.69 million and 723.54 million respectively, for a total of 1.24 billion. Airtel recorded 2.53 billion outgoing and 2.41 billion incoming messages, totalling 4.94 billion, while T2’s combined SMS traffic amounted to 193.28 million.
In the international SMS category, Airtel led with 337.1 million cross-border messages, followed by MTN with 43 million, Glo with 6.95 million, and T2 with 7.39 million. NCC’s data showed international SMS sent increasing from 75.41 million in 2023 to 112.6 million in 2024, a 49.30 percent rise while incoming international messages increased by 6.66 percent from 264.27 million in 2023 to 281.87 million in 2024.
Internet subscriptions: industry decline, Airtel breaks the trend
Internet subscriptions told a slightly different story. Although smartphone adoption has continued to rise across the country, total active internet subscriptions fell from 163.6 million in December 2023 to 138.98 million by December 2024, marking a 15.05 percent decline year-on-year. The drop affected MTN, Globacom, and T2, each of which recorded varying degrees of subscription losses. Airtel, however, bucked the trend, posting a 5.21 percent increase in active internet subscriptions over the same period. This growth indicates strategic gains in data offerings and broadband expansion that positioned Airtel favourably despite wider market contraction.
Mobile number portability: MTN remains the top destination
The year also saw a significant rise in number portability activity, a metric widely regarded as a direct measure of consumer satisfaction and network preference. NCC reported 110,776 porting activities across all networks in 2024, representing a 64.45 percent increase over 2023. MTN again emerged as the most preferred destination network, attracting 36,412 port-ins. Airtel followed with 13,783, Globacom received 4,469 incoming porters, and T2 welcomed 724. The appeal of MTN to switching customers aligns with its continued investments in 4G and 5G expansion, as well as its strong performance in quality-of-service indicators.
Industry analysts note that competition in 2025 could intensify, particularly with Airtel accelerating its 5G rollout and Globacom increasing focus on enterprise data solutions. Even so, MTN’s 2024 results underscore the operator’s entrenched market leadership and its central role in shaping the direction of Nigeria’s telecom industry. For now, the company’s scale, reach, and revenue profile remain unmatched, setting a benchmark that its rivals will need to work harder to challenge in 2025 and the years ahead.
