Data war: Over 100,000 data users dump 9mobile, as MTN, Airtel, Glo gain big

9mobile was the only loser among the top four telecommunications companies in the industry’s data war, as over 100,000 subscribers left the network provider, despite 1.54% growth in the telco industry’s total subscriber base.

According to analysis of the market data for the month of April, obtained from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), it was gathered that a total of 107,617 subscribers stopped using 9mobile’s data service.

This depleted 9mobile’s total data users to 5.44 million, in the month under review, in contrast to the 5.55 million subscribers using the network’s data plan. Half of this figure is the combined gain of MTN Nigeria, Airtel and Glo for the month of April, which is over 2 million.

The loss of subscribers by 9mobile, is a setback to its revenue growth for the second quarter (Q1) of 2022, as the company will draw earnings from less users, compared to the base that used its service in first quarter (Q1) 2021.

Airtel overtakes Glo in highest data user base

While Globacom avoid the losers list, the Wale Adenuga-owned company lost its second spot on the list of companies with the highest data users to Airtel Nigeria, as only 331,360 persons subscribed to Glo data service, increasing its internet users to 39.89 million, surpassing March figure of 39.56 million base.

Airtel Africa surpassed Globacom to close the gap on MTN Nigeria, after 918,191 users joined its data platform, lifting the internet subscribers of the Bharti Airtel subsidiary to 40.29 million, up from 39.37 million base.

MTN maintained its lead in the data war, gaining the highest users in the month of April, having recorded 1.10 million users within 30 days, to grow its internet users to 61.81 million, above the 60.70 million it ended March with.

The y’ello network accounted for the largest chunk of the 2.24 million data subscribers that joined the telecommunications industry in April. The industry closed the month with 147.44 million data users, surpassing the 145.20 million recorded a month before.