2016 Q1 Industry Report rates Glo dominant operator in data subscriptions

Globacom has consolidated its position as Nigeria’s preferred network
for new data subscribers in the first quarter of 2016. Industry reports
on the website of the Nigerian
Communications Commission (NCC) showed that  1,448,354 new internet
subscribers joined the Globacom network in the first three months of the
year. 

The operator garnered 354,178 new subscribers in
January; 248,593 in February; and 845,583 subscribers in  March. In all,
the operator’s internet customers climbed to 26,530,420 at the end of
the first quarter.Globacom’s figure of 1,448,354 for the three months
represented 80 percent of the total number of 1,820,651  new
subscribers who used the  internet services of the four key telecom
operators in Nigeria in the first quarter of this year.

While Airtel recorded 319,229 new data subscribers
for the three months, Etisalat had an addition of 53,068 new internet
users on the network during the period. The combined figure for the two
companies makes up 20% of the total figure
of 1,820,651 new internet customers for the quarter.

 On the contrary, MTN lost over 6.5 million customers, as its data subscribers dropped from 39,924,737  to 33,356,595.

The 2016 first quarter result reflects the trend
witnessed in the last quarter of 2015 during which Globacom was the only
network that recorded an increase in its internet subscriber base. It
had an addition of 3.2m new internet subscribers
in the quarter 

MTN, Airtel and Etisalat all lost subscribers
within the period. MTN suffered a loss of almost 2million customers,
while Airtel lost nearly 900,000 subscribers. Etisalat, on its part,
lost 408,282.

Similarly, a 12 month analysis published two months
ago revealed that Globacom gained a total of 7,251,657 new internet
users during the period. Etisalat secured 5,431,190 new internet
customers, while Airtel got 961,548 new data customers
in the 12 month period.