MTN Nigeria loses 1m subscribers in second quarter

Nigeria’s leading telecommunications company MTN Nigeria has suffered a whooping loss of about one million subscribers in the second quarter of the year.
Figures released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), indicate that in contrary Nigerian indigenous player Globacom made the hugest gain in the period.
Its subscriber base rose from 23 million in Q1 to 27 million subscribers in Q2 making it Nigeria’s second largest telecoms operator after MTN.
Latest figures showed MTN still has the highest number of subscribers with 56 million, followed by Globacom (27 million subscribers), Airtel (25 million subscribers) and Etisalat (19 million subscribers).
Globacom conceded the second position to Airtel in the first quarter but it regained it after adding 2.8 million new subscribers between February and June, moving up from 23 million subscribers in March 2014, to 27 million subscribers in June 2014.
Airtel’s subscriber base dropped from 25.5 million in March to 25.3 million subscribers in June 2014, while Etisalat’s subscriber base rose from 18 million subscribers in March 2014 to 19 million subscribers in June 2014.
MTN now has a 44 per cent market share, Globacom has 21 per cent, Airtel, 20 per cent, while Etisalat has 15 per cent.
Despite the huge number advantage enjoyed by MTN, it is perceived by many Nigerians as the most customer insensitive network, with many subscribers holding on to their lines just because of its connectivity advantage over others.