Latest industry statistics released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) indicated that subscriptions across the four GSM networks of MTN, Globacom, Airtel and 9mobile stood at 207.5 million in November, a marginal decline from 207.6 million recorded in October.
With this, the country’s teledensity, which measures the number of active telephone connections per 100 inhabitants living within an area, also declined from 108.94 per cent to 108.92 per cent in November.
This is calculated based on an estimated 190 million population of the country. Incidentally, the decline came ahead of the anticipated shrink in the operators’ subscription database as activation and registration of new SIMs has been suspended for over a month now, a development the industry is witnessing for the first time since the liberalisation of the telecommunications sector 20 years ago.
According to reliable industry sources, the operators are already adjusting their revenue projections for this year as their income is bound to plummet due to the prolonged suspension of SIM sales.
An official of one of the telecom operators, who spoke to New Telegraph under the condition of anonymity, said all the operators have been losing revenue due to the suspension.
“From December 10 when government announced the suspension of sale and registration of new SIMs, we have been losing millions of naira on a daily basis, not just because we are unable to sell new lines, but also because we are unable to replace or swap lines for some of our customers whose SIMs got damaged, stolen or lost within the last one month,” he said.
Although government had recently adjusted its directive by allowing the operators to do SIM replacement for subscribers who lost or misplaced their lines upon presentation and verification of their National Identity Number (NIN), the source said most of the subscribers who could have benefited from this window do not have the NIN yet.
This was in spite of a 1.3 million decline in its active subscriptions, which reduced its database from 83.3 million in October to 82 million in November. Airtel, the second-largest operator, added 1.01million new subscriptions in the month. This brought its total subscriptions to 57.2 million.
Globacom also activated 10,024 new lines, bringing its customer base to 55.08 million. 9mobile, which bounced back from its consistent loss of subscribers in July, also sustained its gains as it added 234,938 new subscriptions in the month.
This brought its total subscriptions to 13.2 million from 12.9 million it recorded in October. (New Telegraph)
