National telecommunications operator, Globacom, recorded 5,063,895 new susbcribers in the last 12 months. The figure represents 68 per cent of all additional GSM lines in the country in the last one year.
Airtel added 2,414,082 new customers, while aMTN and Etisalat had their GSM subscriber figures whittled down.
Etisalat lost 382,336 customers, while MTN’s subscriber base was depleted by 4, 403,344 in the last one year.
Telecom industry statistics published on the website of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), showed that a total of 7,477,977 new lines were activated between June 2015 and June 2016, with Globacom recording a whopping 5,063,895 new susbcribers, while Airtel added 2,414,082 during the period.
Details of the NCC report showed that with the feat achieved by Globacom, the data grandmaster has now grown its market share from 21 per cent to 24 per cent with 36.3million subscribers at the end of June, 2016.
But, MTN which once had over 45per cent share of the market had this reduced to 39 per cent at the end of June with 58.4million subscribers. Globacom had a total of 31,256,677 customers by June 2015, whereas MTN had 62,813,111.
While Glo has continued to narrow the gap between it and MTN, it has created a substantial gap between it and Airtel. Both Glo and Airtel were at par in terms of market share only three months ago with each having 21 per cent.
But Airtel, whose subscriber base stood at 29,564,766 at the middle of last year, had 31,978,848 customers at the end of June 2016. This still keeps it at 21per cent share of the GSM market. On its part, Etisalat had 15 per cent share with 22,469,896 customers at the end of June, 2016, down from 22,852,232 at the same time last year.
Globacom’s lead in the voice segment of the industry complements its status as clear leader in the data market where it has for the last one year remained tops in new internet subscriber acquisition.
In June 2016 for instance, while the industry gained a total of 318,008 new internet subscribers, Globacom alone had 272,674 of the new customers. In essence, Globacom accounted for about 86 per cent of the total internet subscriber acquisitions in the industry in the month of June.
Industry analysts noted that Globacom’s unparalleled growth even in the midst of shrinking economy is the dividend of the massive network upgrade it carried out recently and its commitment to offering innovative products and services.
Globacom, which for the past one and half years had been the preferred data services provider, it also emerged the first choice of subscribers in voice services.
