Telecommunication companies lost more than three million subscribers in the month of April 2021, according to new industry statistics released by the Nigerian Communications Commission yesterday.
Subscriber base fell from 192,413,613 in March to 188,705,734 in April. Globacom was the biggest loser for the month of April, with about two million subscribers lost. MTN lost about a million. While both Airtel and 9mobile lost less than 500,000 subscribers together.
MTN’s subscribers dropped from 75,927,231 in March to 74,819,864 in April. Globacom dropped from 52,918,718 in March to 50,598,855 in April. 9mobile dropped from 12,850,383 in March to 12,779,155 in April. Airtel dropped from 50,384,950 in March to 50,177,408 in April.
Broadband penetration dropped from 41.18 per cent in March to 40.66 per cent in April. This was because telcos lost more than one million data subscribers in the month of April. No porting services were recorded for the month as has been the case since January.
In December 2020, the sale and registration of new SIM cards was banned by the Federal Government and a December 30 deadline for people to link their National Identity Number with their SIM cards was set. This has since been moved to June 30, 2021.
A telecom expert had during the ban on new SIM registration said, “The impact of the SIM-NIN policy will slow down growth. The NIN requirement will slow down the ability to register SIMs legally, because not every Nigerian has NIN.”