Active subscriptions for telecommunications services across the mobile networks of MTN, Airtel, Glo and 9mobile rose to 222 million at the end of 2022 compared to 195 million subscriptions the country had as of December 2021.
This represents 14% growth for the year, according to the latest industry data released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
The data shows that the growth was driven largely by MTN, which recorded the highest gain of 15.4 million subscriptions in the year. In total, the four GSM operators recorded a combined 27 million increase in subscriptions in 2022.
The country’s teledensity, which measures the number of active telephone connections per 100 inhabitants living within an area, also jumped from 102.40% in December 2021 to 116.60% in December 2022.
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According to NCC, the teledensity is calculated based on a population estimate of 190 million.
A breakdown of the growth indicates that MTN, which is the largest operator by subscriber number, gained 15.4 million new subscriptions in 2022. This brought its total active customer database to 89 million from 73.5 million it recorded in December 2021.
Airtel added 6.1 million new subscriptions 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 60 million at the end of 2022 from the 53.9 million it recorded in December 2021.
Glo also recorded a 5.3 million increase in subscriptions in the year to maintain its position as the second-largest operator. The new activations on the network brought Glo’s total subscriptions to 60.3 million from 54.9 million it recorded in December 2021.
9mobile recorded a marginal growth in the year as its subscription database rose by 63,362 to 12.8 million in December 2022.
