Operators record 2.45% growth in Q3
Growth profile of mobile operators, especially the quartet of Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), a digital mobile telephony system that is widely used in most parts of the world, leaped by 2.45 per cent at the end of third quarter (Q3), ending September.
The quarterly data indicates how well or otherwise each service provider performed in terms of attracting new subscribers or customers, while also retaining existing ones within the three-month review period. Such statistics also show which operator is leading in the market.
According to The Guardian checks, the operators moved from 0.86 per cent in Q1 owing to the challenge they encountered with registration and re-registration of subscribers to 1.21 per cent in Q2 and to 2.45 per cent in Q3.
The statistics from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), an independent industry regulator, showed that with a combined subscription of 152.8 million, embattled telecommunications firm rose from 2.39 per cent in Q2 to 3.69 per cent. Airtel, which had a negative growth in Q2, is now 2.49 per cent healthier. Globacom and Etisalat in the quarter under review recorded 1.78 per cent and 0.29 per cent growth respectively.
The country moved from 107.3 per cent teledensity, which measures the number of telephone connections relative to the population in a particular locality in Q2 to 109.5 per cent. The country’s connected lines increased from 213 million to 226.4 million, with 153 million lines being active, increasing from 149.2 million in June.
Further analysis showed that MTN still dominates the market with 60.6 million subscribers and 40 per cent market share. The South African firm is followed at a distance by Globacom with 24 per cent market share and 36.9 million customers.
Airtel, which is the third largest operator in Nigeria, has 32.8 million subscribers and 21 per cent market share, while Emerging Market Telecommunications Service (EMTS), operating as Etisalat, controls 15 per cent market share and 22.5 million subscribers.
As at today, the GSM technology, which debut in Nigeria in 2001 currently controls 99.7 per cent of the market, while both Code Division and Multiple Access Operator (CDMA), a multi-channel access used in communication, and Fixed Wireless, which allows you to carry your phone around internally, have 0.20 per cent and 0.10 per cent market dominance respectively.
Commenting, the Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo, told The Guardian, that the GSM/telecommunications sector has been the best managed, organised and developed of all other sectors in the history of the country.
Adebayo said the best of the country’s infrastructure remains telecoms, which has contributed significantly to the country’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP).
He emphasised the need for better protection of the sector from the various levels of governments and their agencies, “telecoms has become part of our live. I can say it is the only sector that has sustained itself over the years. Where are the other sectors—textile, manufacturing, banking and even oil and gas? The telecommunications industry has sustained itself over the years.”
According to him, though there are challenges including drop calls, (phone conversations cut off for technical reasons before they are terminated); unsolicited SMS (short message service), incomplete calls (which cut off almost as soon as you accept the call). “These are not peculiar to Nigeria alone, these still occur even in advanced economies. There is need to understand that technology is evolving daily. We must also note that this sector has enabled virtually all others industries’ growth. So there is a need to protect and pamper it.”He advised government to offer operators and their investments first layer protection for further growth of the sector.
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