WATCH THE VIDEO HERE It seems not to be looking too good for 9Mobile, formerly operating as Etisalat, in the Nigerian telecommunications industry as its subscriber base has continued to shrink as the company struggles to stay competitive. Since the United Arab Emirates (UAE) company severed its relationship with Emerging Markets Telecommunication Services (EMTS) Limited in 2017 and the brand name changed to 9Mobile, customers of the network have not enjoyed quality service delivery. Some of 9Mobile subscribers have had to endure drop calls, poor service delivery and others, forcing them to port to other networks. Even the acquisition of a majority stake in EMTS Limited by LH Telecommunication Limited in July 2024, speculated to change the narrative for good, has not done the expected magic as subscribers have complained of poor service. In the latest data of active lines released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), it was revealed that the market share of 9Mobile dropped to 2.15 per cent as of October 2024. The data, obtained by Business Post, showed that the company boasts only 3,389,897 subscribers, far lower than Glo’s 19,108,272 subscribers, which is third on the list at a market share of 12.15 per cent. The leading network in Nigeria remains MTN at 51.09 per cent with a subscriber base of 80,376,120 subscribers, followed by Airtel at 34.61 per cent with 54,446,118 subscribers. In the NCC data, it was stated that in October 2024, active mobile lines in Nigeria slightly rose by 2 per cent month-on-month to 157.6 million, ending the monthly drop in mobile line subscriptions that started in March 2024 due to the NIN-SIM linkage exercise imposed by the sector regulator. As a result, all unlinked SIM cards were disabled, significantly reducing active mobile lines, and leading to telcos losing a considerable number of subscribers. It was disclosed that in the period under review, MTN Nigeria gained about 2.3 million or 2.9 per cent of customers on a month-on-month basis, followed by Airtel with about 697,000 users in October. However, 9Mobile, once a darling network in Nigeria, suffered the largest attrition, as it lost 245,000 subscribers, while Glo lost 45,000 subscribers.
9Mobile Market Share Drops to 2% as Subscribers Port to Other Networks
