Telecom Operators Lose 30m Subscribers In Three-Year Slump

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LAGOS – Telecom operators in Nigeria recorded a sharp decline of 33,153,633 subscribers in three years (May 2023 – April 2026), according to the Nigerian Communica­tions Commission’s (NCC) latest indus­try statistics.

According to the telecom indus­try statistics, the figure showed that 4,270,285 of mobile subscribers were lost between May 2023 (220,931,688) and April 2024 (216,661,403), while the sector had repeat of the negative record with a huge drop of 46,338,623 subscribers be­tween May 2024 (219,005,878) and April 2025 (172,667,255).

There was a significant positive in­crease between May 2025 (172,474,626) and April 2026 with 187,778,055 subscrib­ers as of the latest figure issued by NCC. The period recorded a huge increase of 15,303,429 subscribers.

In May 2023, when the current government came into power, the telecom sector had 220,931,688 subscribers. But as at April 2026 which marks exactly three years, the sector has a record of 187,778,055 subscribers. This indicates a decline of 33,153,633 subscribers during the period under review.

Overall, according to the NCC’s figures, MTN, the largest operator with a subscriber figure of 88,675,062 as at April 2023, was a major factor in the statistics. It gained 7,716,357 subscribers during the period under review which currently pulls 96,391,419 subscribers as at April 2026, while Airtel which had 60,331,845 sub­scribers in April 2023 recorded an increase of 4,338,173 subscribers, bringing its current subscriber base to 64,670,018.

On the flip side, Glo, which was trailing MTN with an im­pressive figure of 60,927,963 sub­scribers, suffered a massive loss of 37,749,366 subscribers. The development reduced its figure to 23,178,597 it currently has.

In the same vein, T2 (formerly 9mobile) which was accommodat­ing 13,403,345 subscribers in May 2023, lost 9,865,324 subscribers. The network, according to NCC’s April 2026 statistics, has only 3,538,021 subscribers on its base.

Despite the sharp decline recorded in the period, market stability has slowly returned.

Latest NCC figures indicate that by early 2026, telcos had started recovering lost ground, even rolling out large-scale com­pensation programmes to over 75 million customers due to poor network quality.

The reduction in the telcos’ active subscriptions between 2023 and 2026 can be attributed to the disconnection of SIMs that were not linked with the National Identification Number (NIN) as mandated by the government. The development resulted in the decline of subscriptions for mo­bile services in the country.

During the period which wit­nessed the impact of foreign ex­change (FX) unification and the removal of the premium motor spirit subsidy, the biting econom­ic pressures reduced consumer purchasing power which led many Nigerians to give up mul­tiple or redundant SIM cards to cut back on monthly data costs.

The service providers lost most subscribers as a result of the Federal Government, through the industry regulator, relevant agencies and institutions like banks which came up with pol­icies that demanded Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) up­dates and verifications. A change in the minimum age requirement for SIM registration (from 16 to 18 years) also contributed to a decline in gross new connections.

During the period, the indus­try regulator, NCC, issued new guidelines to telecommunication companies, directing them to de­activate phone lines unused for six consecutive months for Rev­enue Generating Event (RGE).

The new rule took a toll on the telecom operators, as many subscribers who are using more than one phone line could not be able to retain the others due to the harsh economic environment of the country.

According to the regulator, “A subscriber line may be deactivat­ed if it has not been used, within six months, for a Revenue Gen­erating Event (RGE), and if the situation persists for another six months, the subscribers may lose their numbers, except for a network-related fault inhibiting an RGE.”

It is common knowledge that some Nigerians are migrating to other countries of the world, and most of them may likely not continue to use their Nigerian networks’ SIM either voluntarily or perhaps any policy that needs revalidation comes up.

There was also a standing order for those who had issue(s) with their SIM cards, as the Na­tional Identity Number (NIN) in the registration of Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards by all mobile telecommunication network operators was mandato­ry. The development undoubtedly interrupted the growth trend of telecom subscribers as indicat­ed in the three years’ statistics by NCC.