SSA remains attractive telecom market as MTN ranks top
Data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) showed that as of September 2025, 1.97 million new Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) cards were unwrapped for activations in the country.

This development ensures that active voice subscriptions rose to 173.54 million in September, from 171.57 million in August.The data also showed that teledensity, which represents the number of active telephone lines per 100 inhabitants, stood at 80.05 per cent during the month, slightly up from 79.14 per cent in August, reflecting gradual subscriber additions across major mobile network operators.

The September data showed that Internet subscriptions also went up from 139.7 million to 140.4 million within the period under review. Broadband penetration recorded an uptick by 10 basis points to 49.34 per cent, representing 106.97 million connections. The new broadband height is still 20.66 per cent short of the 70 per cent broadband target by the Federal Government by December 2025, as enshrined in the National Broadband Plan.

Further analysis of the new data showed that in terms of network technology, 4G accounted for the largest share of mobile connections, representing 51.6 per cent of active users in September. 2G networks followed with 38.4 per cent, while 3G and 5G held 6.6 per cent and 3.4 per cent market shares respectively.

The breakdown of active GSM connections revealed that MTN Nigeria maintained its leadership with 90.33 million subscribers, representing 52.12 per cent market share, followed by Airtel with 58.47 million or 33.74 per cent share.

While Globacom now serves 21.39 million active connections on its network to control 12.34 per cent of the market, T2 (formerly 9mobile) maintains the least market share of 1.8 per cent, with 3.11 million active subscribers on its network. For T2, however, the performance is an improvement on the 2.73 million customers it served in August.

Amidst an increase in new SIM activations, there was a slight drop in data consumption for the month. While the figure rose to 1.15 million terabytes in August, it dropped to 1.14 million terabytes.

MEANWHILE, Ookla has rated the MTN network in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) the best. Using Ookla Speedtest Intelligence data and operators’ reports, it analysed the mobile network and operational performance of operating companies (opcos) and joint ventures of four main groups in the region – Airtel Africa, Orange, MTN, and Vodacom – across the eight countries. These countries account for 55 per cent of the region’s mobile cellular connections, according to GSMA Intelligence.

Ookla said MTN Uganda is the top performer among the surveyed operators in East Africa, while MTN Nigeria outperformed other operators in West Africa in 5G download speed.

It pointed out that MTN operations in Uganda, Nigeria, and Botswana were also the only operators with a 5G median download speed above 200 Mbps. The second group of operators includes Orange (Botswana), Safaricom (Kenya), Airtel (Nigeria and Uganda), Vodacom, and MTN (South Africa). These operators achieved median download speeds ranging from around 160 Mbps to 186 Mbps. In contrast, Airtel (Tanzania and Kenya) and Vodacom (Tanzania) had lower median download speeds, ranging between 60 Mbps and 130 Mbps.

Ookla observed that SSA continues to be an attractive market for telecommunications groups despite some headwinds. Africa remained appealing to telecom groups because of a combination of a young and rapidly growing population and demand for digital and financial services.

Despite positive economic prospects, the groups reported headwinds in the form of currency devaluation and inflation impacting revenue, high and fluctuating energy costs, subdued economic growth affecting demand, and regulatory interventions, such as a reduction in mobile termination rates in Uganda (affecting MTN and Airtel). Tariff adjustments helped some operators, such as Airtel in Nigeria, to accelerate revenue growth to offset the effect of currency devaluation.