The number of GSM subscribers which was peaked at about 150 million in November last year, dropped to 148.6 million by end of the year. However, on a year-on-year basis the industry subscriber base rose by about 8.9 per cent from 136.6 million in December 2014 to 148.6 million in December 2015, while MTN still dominated market share.
According to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), it was indicated that the decline in the fourth quarter of the year which represented a reversal of third quarter growth was as a rsult of declines in MTN subscriber base from 62.4 million to 61.2 million and Etisalat from 23.4 million to 22.1 million. Whens Globacom and Airtel witnessed increases in their number of subscribers.
The total number of subscribers has increased rapidly over the previous decade, but in recent years of the second decade in the life of the industry in Nigeria a lower growth rate have been recorded, possibly as market penetration is already high, which leaves less room for large expansion. On the other hand outgoing porting activity increased by 50.38 per cent to 219,559 from 145,998 between 2014 and 2015. This increase was driven mainly by MTN which lost 125,515 porters in 2015 compared to 67,039 in 2014, an increase of 87.23 per cent.
Airtel also lost substantially more porters in 2015 at a total 41,527 compared to 25,883 in 2014, an increase of 60.44 per cent. The report also indicated that GSM internet subscriptions followed similar trend as telephony, except that a real drop below previous quarter was recorded. Internet subscription as at end of fourth quarter was 97.03 million as against 97.06 million in the third quarter.