MTN Nigeria loses five million subscribers in three months

MTN Nigeria Communications Plc has said its mobile subscribers declined by five million to 71.5 million in the first quarter of 2021 due to the effects of customer churn and the regulatory restrictions on new SIM sales and activations.

The telecommunications company said active data users declined marginally by 71,000 to 32.5 million.

Its service revenue increased by 17.2 percent to N385.2 billion while profit before tax grew by 33.9 percent to N102.9 billion.

“We made good progress in the first quarter of 2021 despite the continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” MTN Nigeria Chief Executive Officer, Karl Toriola, said.

He said the service revenue in Q1 was supported by growth of 42.6 percent and 8.0 per cent in data and voice revenue respectively.

“ was achieved despite the impact of the pandemic and a decline in our subscriber base due to the effects of customer churn and the restrictions on new SIM sales and activations arising from changes in SIM registration regulations,” he said.

Toriola said the company would continue to collaborate with the Nigerian Communications Commission and the Nigerian Identity Management Commission to update subscriber records with the National Identity Number.

He said, “Thus far, more than 35 million subscribers have submitted their NINs as at April 30, 2021, representing approximately 50 percent of our subscriber base and 63 percent of service revenue.

“We are also actively supporting the government’s NIN enrolment programme, with 182 points of enrolment active across the country. We are working with NIMC to increase the enrolment centres to provide an access point for as many Nigerian as possible.”