Mobile Internet in Nigeria (October 2019): Glo and 9mobile lose subscribers

MTN remains the largest Internet Service Provider in Nigeria by subscriber numbers. It has 52,163,778 active data subscribers, followed by Airtel with 33,618,035 subscribers, Glo with 28,995,634 subscribers, and 9mobile still straggling with 8,346,229.

Globacom has prided itself as the “grandmasters of data” but does not seem to be able to keep up with Airtel and MTN. While Glo still offers the most generous data plans, subscribers regularly complain about the quality of service of the network.

Airtel Nigeria recently increased the data volume of its different mobile internet bundles, introduced new data plans (like the Weekly Binge Plan), and has been enjoying an upsurge in Internet subscribers. MTN followed suit in October 2019 with more generous data allocations on its data plans as well.

9mobile has not quite found its rhythm over the years. It has continually struggled to gain mobile Internet subscribers and is so far behind the pack that they might as well not be in the game.

Outside of the big 4 GSM operators, 4G Internet provider, Smile Communications has 289,733, while Ntel has 54,182.

Looking at the full picture, the Big 4 operators have control of 99.85% of Internet subscribers in Nigeria.

Source: Subscriber data from NCC (2019)

Author: InfoDesk

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