MTN, others push teledensity to 104%

Nigeria’s largest telecoms company, MTN, alongside three other major operators in the country, Glo, Airtel and Etisalat, has further pushed telephone penetration in the country to 104.69 per cent, New Telegraph has gathered. The penetration also known as teledensity stood at 100.59 per cent in January this year and has moved gradually to reach 102.8 per cent at the end of the first quarter in March and 102.91 per cent in April. This is contained in the latest subscriber data obtained from the country’s telecoms industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

The NCC data also showed that the number of active telephone lines on all mobile networks in the country increased from 145.4 million in April to 146.5 million at the end of May. Though, the 146.5 million represents the national aggregate active subscriber base on all the GSM networks, the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) and fixed wired/wireless networks, the ‘Big Four’ of MTN, Globacom, Airtel and Etsalat, were solely responsible for the latest thrust in teledensity. According to the statistics, Nigeria telecoms market achieved 139.1 million active telephone subscriptions by the end of December, 2014, with a teledensity of 99.39 per cent.

The growth in mobile subscription in Africa’s largest telecoms market has further increased to 140.8 million in January this year, 142.5 million in February and 143.9 million and 145.4 million active mobile subscriptions, according to the NCC report. According to the report, teledensity jumped from 99.39 per cent in December last year to 100.56 per cent in January this year. By February, March and end of April, the figure increased to 101.85 per cent; 102.81 per cent and 103.91 per cent respectively. In terms of market share by technologies, analysis of the data showed that of the 145.4 million mobile, GSM operators, including MTN, Globacom, Airtel and Etisalat hold 143 million, the CDMA, a market segment led by Visafone, controls 2.2 million lines while fixed line operators recorded 184,790 active lines.

The NCC data also provided the latest total connected telephone lines in the country, aside the active lines. According to the data, the number of connected telephone lines in the country is now put at 196.9 million at the end of April, of which 145.4 million are active lines. The total industryconnected telephone lines rose from 192.1 million in January this year, but fell by close to 1.5 million to 190.5 million in February and by end of first quarter ending March, the figure rose again to 194.5 million. In April, it stood at 196.9 million. Nigeria’s telecoms subscriber base has grown significantly since 2001, when the country liberalised the telecoms market, paving the way for different players to come into the sector.

From around 500,000 connected mobile phones 14 years ago, the sector has grown in leaps and bounds, reaching over 145 million active lines, according to the NCC data. Meanwhile, the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Dr. Eugene Juwah, has promised to ensure that the Commission continuously keeps telecoms networks on their toes towards providing improved quality of services to their growing subscribers. “We shall do this by ensuring close monitoring and compliance of telecoms operators to the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) on Quality of Service (QoS) set for them by the regulator. To meet the KPIs, however, President of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Mr. Gbenga Adebayo, has called on the NCC to work with stakeholders at all levels of government to ensure that operating challenges being faced by the networks are removed.