Nigeria’s active mobile subscriptions rises to 218.6 million in November 2022
By Chisom Nwatu
Active subscriptions for telecommunications services across the mobile networks of MTN, Airtel, Glo, and 9mobile rose to 218.6 million in November 2022, according to the latest industry data released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
In total, the four GSM operators recorded a combined 4.2 million increase in subscriptions in November, a significant increase when compared to 214.3 million active mobile subscriptions recorded in October 2022.
The data also showed that the increase was largely driven by MTN, which recorded the highest gain of 3.1 million subscriptions in the month.
Through the growth recorded by the Telecom operators, the country’s teledensity, which measures the number of active telephone connections per 100 inhabitants living within an area, also jumped from 112.47 per cent in October to 114.07 per cent in November 2022.
According to NCC, the teledensity is calculated based on a population estimate of 190 million.
The NCC’s statistics show that MTN, which is the largest operator by subscriber number, gained 3.1 million new subscriptions in November. This brought its total active customer database to 86.4 million from the 83.2 million it recorded in October.
Glo also recorded a 312,274 increase in subscriptions in the month to maintain its position as the second-largest operator. The new activations on the network brought Glo’s total subscriptions to 59.9 million from the 59.6 million it recorded in October.
Airtel added 713,865 new subscriptions in the month under review but the gain was not enough to displace Glo from the second position in terms of subscription numbers. The telco’s active customer database rose to 59.3 million at the end of November from 58.6 million in October.
Meanwhile, 9mobile marked a detour from its losing streak as it gained new subscriptions for the first time in several months. The company’s subscriptions database increased by 69,812 to 12.8 in the month under review.