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Active phone subscribers reduce in February – NCC

Published

7 years ago

April 15, 2019

The NCC) says there was a decrease of 342,101 active subscribers on the telecommunication networks in February 2019.

NCC disclosed this in its Monthly Subscriber/Operator Data made available on its website on Monday.

Active subscribers on the telecommunications networks reduced from 174,012,136 in January to 173,670,035 in February.

According to the data, 173,276,528 of the 173,670,035 active numbers subscribe to the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network services.

The GSM operators’ active customers’ figure decreased by 348,778 in February, against the 173,625,306 subscribers recorded in January.

The report stated that out of the GSM operators, MTN had 65,565,878 users in February, showing a decrease of 99,480 from the 66,665,378 it recorded in January.

“Globacom’s figure increased in February by 400,879 with 46,004,517 customers, as against 45,603,638 in January.

“Airtel had 44,975,532 subscribers in the month under review, which showed an increase of 4,559 users, from the 44,970,973 recorded in January.

“9mobile recorded 16,730,581 customers in February, having an increase of 345,264 subscribers, against 16,385,317 in January.

“The Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) operators recorded 123,547 subscribers in the month under review, indicating a decrease of 710, from 124,257 users in January.

“Visafone which is one of the two surviving CDMA operators had 119,087 customers in February, showing a decrease of 710 from the 119,797 recorded in January,” it said.

The report added that Multi-Links had 4,460 in the month under review, same with the record of January.

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

“One of the two landline networks, Visafone had 26,437 subscribers, while Multi-Links maintained its record of 428 customers in the month under review.”

It also revealed that the Fixed Wired operators (landline) subscriber base decreased by 154; reducing to 107,795 users in February, as against 107,949 recorded in January.

“In the Fixed Wired arena, MTN Fixed moved from 5,480 users in January to 5,459 users in February, thereby decreasing by 21 customers.

“Glo Fixed had 2,884 users in February, decreasing by 12 customers from the January record of 2,896.

“IpNX network moved from 2,248 subscriber base in January to 2,233 in February, hence, its customers decreased by 15.”

It said that 21st Century Network had 97,219 customers in February, recording a decrease of 106 users from its January record of 97,325 subscribers.

The report also showed that the two Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) networks had 135,300 active users in February, as their customers increased by 7,541 from their January subscriber base of 127,759.

“Of the VOIP networks, Smile Communication had 129,468 customers, giving an increase of 8,207 users to its January result of 121,261.

“Ntel had 5,832 consumers subscribing to its products and services in February, showing a decrease of 666 users from the January record of 6,498,” it said.

The regulatory body said that Section 89, Subsection 3(c) of the Nigerian Communications Act, 2003 mandates it to monitor and report the state of the telecommunications industry.

“The commission is mandated to provide statistical analyses and identify industry trends with regard to: services, tariffs, operators, technology, subscribers, issues of competition and dominance.

“This is with a view to identifying areas where regulatory intervention will be needed.

“The commission regularly conducts studies, surveys and produces reports on the telecommunications industry.

“Therefore, telecommunications operators are obligated, under the terms of their licenses, to provide NCC with such data on a regular basis for analytical review and publishing,” it said.

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Featured

CELEBRATING A CENTURY-OLD CIVIL AVIATION SECTOR TRAJECTORY IN NIGERIA

Published

3 weeks ago

December 1, 2025

The Gleamer

This week, millions of Nigerians and others across the globe will join the Ministry of Aviation and Space Development under the irrepressible leadership of the Honourable Minister, Festus Keyamo(SAN),and all the notable Aviation sector stakeholders in and outside the country,in celebrating a century of Nigeria’s civil aviation history.

There is no doubt that under the present leadership of the Honourable Minister and within the short spell of time in his stewardship,he has consciously and intentionally embarked on a “silent revolution” for the industry with very veritable and laudable landmarks that have consistently grown the industry.

Some of these spirited efforts for instance have consequently led to trust restoration amongst international lessors, financier,any global partners.Of note also is assidiously working for the full domestication and implementation of the “Cape Town Convention Agreement” ,which gives Airlines access to modern fleets of competitive rates as well as enforcement of IDERA(Irrevocable Deregulation and Export Request Authorization).

Having well applauded these vital contemporary initiatives,it will also be germane to cast our minds in retrospect by taking a peep into our history over several decades to recognise some of the notable forebears in the industry whose impressionabl efforts cannot be overlooked,as they took the impetuous initiatives of breaking the ice at the nascent stage.
It will aptly corroborate the truism which says that… ” a journey of a thousand miles starts with one step”.

The above is vividly captured from a tribute by the First Republic Minister of Aviation Chief Mbazulike Amaechi at the funeral of late Igwe of Oba,HRH Peter Ezenwa(MFR) in 2018.
It states inter alia…”One significant thing I will say many people didn’t know is that the first indigenous airline that was to run in Nigeria was known as “STANDARD AIRLINE”.It was founded in 1966 by a company formed by Igwe Peter Ezenwa from Oba,and had on board,John Nwankwu from Abagana,Edward Ebo from Ezinifitte,(all from Anambra state),John Anyaehie from Nkwerre in Imo state,and lastly my very self Mbazulike Amaechi.
The five of us later acquired two brand new aircrafts,and had four pilots,namely;Unachievable,John Emma Ngwu and Felix Offor,who was to be the General Manager of the airline.
But just about the time for the take-off the crisis of the military takeover erupted in the North as the planes were on their way for delivery to us.In fact the bank handling the transaction was to allow the planes to be flown from the USA,but the news of the war broke out in 1967,the insurance company cabled for the cancellation of the deal as they will not be able to cover the risk cost of aircrafts being flown into war zone.
So,we asked the manufacturers to take the two aircrafts back to their country and hold on for six months with the hope of that the war will end within the requested time frame,but the war didn’t end as thought.We consequently asked for refund and they deducted some money and refunded the balance which was deposited at the London branch of African Continental Bank(ACB).

When the government took over the operations of ACB,we still hoped for the refund but unfortunately were disappointed that the Federal government took over the whole money and we lost everything.”

Further in line with our historical perspective,it will also be pertinent some of the later years reformists in the likes of Engr Onyereri and Harold Demuren who advertently sponsored some far reaching regulations that eventually steered the industry towards greater autonomy with the passage of the 2005 Civil Aviation Act,which I was also a prime participant of in my capacity as an Aviation sub chair in then House of Representatives.

As we mark this great century milestone,and with the clear evidential pathway set out by the current managers of the industry under the indomitable leadership of Honourable Minister, I do not see the sky posing any limitations as they say,but rather availing new vistas of limitless growth opportunities.

CONGRATULATIONS.

Hon Chidi Nwogu
Former member House of Representatives & presently Governing Council member
,African Aviation and Aerospace University,Abuja.

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