Posted by Kunle Azeez

Telecoms companies in Nigeria have recorded a loss of 5.2 million subscribers in one fell swoop on their networks in the month of April.

Telecoms regulator, the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), disclosed this in its latest monthly subscriber data released yesterday.

According to the data, active mobile voice subscriptions in Nigeria crashed from 154.4 million in March to 149.2 million at the end of April this year.

Global system for mobile communications (GSM) companies, including MTN, Globacom, Airtel and Etisalat, were responsible for the decline.

Analysis shows that across all the four categories of subscribers, such as GSM, the code division multiple access (CDMA) and fixed wired/wireless operators, as well as Voice Over Internet protocol (VoIP), only GSM segment was responsible for the crash in the subscriber base.

NCC data showed that 148.7 million of the 149.2 million active numbers subscribed to the GSM network services.

The GSM operators’ active customers decreased by 3.2 million on the 151.9 million subscribers recorded in March. Among the GSM operators, MTN had 58.1 million users in April, showing a decrease of 2.2 million from the 60.33 million recorded in March.

Globacom’s figure decreased in April by 58,727 with over 37.2 million customers, as against 37.3 million in March.

Airtel had 34.3 million subscribers in the month under review, which showed a decline of 319,803 users, from the 34.6 million recorded in March. Etisalat also recorded a drop in customers by 576,120 in April, giving a customer base of over 19 million, as against 19.6 million users in March.

The CDMA operators had 217,566 users in April, which was same with the result for March.

Between the two surviving CDMA service providers, Visafone had 213,106 customers, while Multi- Links had 4,460 in the month under review.

The monthly subscriber/ operator data showed that the Fixed Wireless network (landline) consumers remained at 26,865 in April.

Between the two landline networks, Visafone had 26,437 subscribers, while Multi-Links maintained its record of 428 customers. It also revealed that the Fixed Wired operators (landline) subscriber base increased by 1,304, giving a total of 126,939 users in April, as against 125,635 recorded in March.

In the Fixed Wired arena, MTN Fixed moved from having 9,532 in March to 9,237 in April, thereby decreasing by 295 users, while Glo Fixed had 12,751 users in April, adding just four customers to the March record of 12,747.

IpNX network moved from 2,611 subscriber base in March to 2,649 in April, increasing its customers by 38. It said that 21st Century network had 102,304 customers in April, recording an increase of 1,559 users on its March record of 100,745.

Newtelegraphonline