Telecoms Subscribers’ Growth Drags as Subscriptions Slowly Climb to 172m in March

Emma Okonji

The latest industry statistics on telecoms subscribers’ growth, released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), showed a slow growth path in telecoms subscriptions, which moved from a total of 169 million in January this year, to 172 million in March.

Worried about the marginal increase, compared to Nigeria’s galloping population growth, the NCC explained that the slow growth was as a result of the removal of Subscriber Identification Modules (SIMs) that were not linked to verifiable National Identification Numbers (NINs), and the rectification of a major discrepancy by a Mobile Network Operator (MNO).

Although the slow growth in telecoms subscriptions also affected teledensity growth, NCC also explained the new shift in the calculation of teledensity in the telecoms sector, saying that teledensity is now calculated based on Nigerian Population Commission’s projected population figure since September 2023.

Despite the drag in the growth path, industry stakeholders are optimistic that the growth rate of telecoms subscriptions will pick up speedily again, since NCC has addressed the initial hiccups in the telecoms sector. 

As at December 2023, telecoms subscriptions reached 224 million, but dropped to 219 million in March 2024, with a further drop to 164 million in December 2024. Telecoms subscriptions however increased slightly to 169 million in January 2025, before the figure slowly reached 172 million in March 2025, according to the statistics released recently by the NCC.

The statistics, which THISDAY obtained from the official website of the NCC, showed that as at June 2024, telecoms subscription was 170 million, with a teledensity of 78.84 per cent, but it dropped in July 2024 to 166 million with a teledensity of 76.88 per cent. In August 2024, telecoms subscription further dropped to 159 million with a teledensity of 73.58 per cent. In September 2024, Nigeria recorded another drop in telecoms subscription to 154 million with a teledensity of 71.46 per cent.

However, the slow growth rate in telecoms subscriptions started in October 2024, when subscriptions slowly climbed to 157 million with a teledensity of 72.70 per cent, up from 154 million subscriptions recorded in September.

In November 2024, Nigeria recorded another slight growth in telecoms subscriptions, which reached 159 million with a teledensity of 73.74. In December 2024, telecoms subscriptions increased again to 164 million with a teledensity of 76.08 per cent, and in January 2025, telecoms subscriptions increased again to 169 million with a teledensity of 78.10 per cent.

In February 2025, Nigeria recorded another slight increase in telecoms subscriptions, which reached 170 million with a teledensity of 78.83 per cent, before the figure slowly reached 172 million subscriptions in March 2025, with a teledensity of 79.67 per cent.

Given the new growth rate in telecoms subscriptions, which started precisely in October last year, industry stakeholders are optimistic that Nigeria will continue to record continuous growth in telecoms subscriptions, should there be no further hiccups that could affect subscription growth. Some industry stakeholders that expressed satisfaction over the growth trajectory of the Nigerian telecoms industry are of the view that the growth in telecoms subscriptions will come even more speedily than expected, going forward.