MTN Nigeria has strengthened its dominance of the country’s telecommunications market, accounting for more than half of all active mobile subscriptions as Nigeria’s telecom subscriber base crossed the 200 million mark for the first time since the 2024 National Identification Number (NIN)-SIM verification exercise.
Latest industry statistics released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) show that MTN added more than two million active subscriptions in September 2026, bringing its total subscriber base to 104.6 million.
The growth increased MTN’s market share to 52.3 per cent, meaning the telecommunications giant now controls more than half of Nigeria’s active mobile connections, leaving Airtel, Globacom and T2 to share the remaining 47.7 per cent.
The development further consolidates MTN’s position as Nigeria’s largest mobile network operator, with its subscriber base significantly ahead of its closest competitor, Airtel Nigeria.
Across the industry, active mobile subscriptions rose to 200,102,038 in September, representing an increase of approximately three million from the 197.1 million recorded in August.
The last time Nigeria’s active mobile subscription base exceeded 200 million was in April 2024, before the NCC’s enforcement of the NIN-SIM linkage policy triggered a massive reduction in the industry’s subscriber database.
MTN’s September performance reinforces its growing lead in a market where competitors are struggling to match its subscriber acquisition momentum.
Airtel Nigeria, the country’s second-largest operator, added 618,660 subscriptions during the month to close September with approximately 68 million active connections, representing 34 per cent of the market.
READ ALSO; MTN Nigeria CEO Karl Toriola earns R226m in five years, averages R871,000 weekly
Globacom recorded a marginal improvement, increasing its subscriber base from 23.5 million in August to 23.8 million in September. However, its market share remained at approximately 11.89 per cent.
For T2, formerly 9mobile, the situation remained largely unchanged despite its recent national roaming agreement with MTN.
The operator’s subscriber base remained static at approximately 3.6 million for the third consecutive month, giving it just 1.89 per cent of the market.
The latest figures highlight the widening competitive gap between MTN and the other operators, particularly as the market continues to recover from the disruption caused by the NIN-SIM verification exercise.
Nigeria’s telecommunications industry suffered a major contraction following the verification of National Identification Numbers linked to mobile SIM cards in 2024.
The exercise resulted in approximately 64.3 million lines being removed from operators’ networks because they were not properly verified.
The impact was particularly severe for Globacom and 9mobile, which recorded substantial reductions in their subscriber databases.
Globacom, which had 62.1 million active subscriptions in March 2024, saw its database fall to 19.1 million by September 2024, representing a loss of approximately 43 million connections.
Similarly, 9mobile’s subscriber base dropped from 11.6 million in March 2024 to approximately 3.6 million, indicating a loss of about eight million subscriptions.
Consequently, the four GSM operators’ combined active subscriptions fell from approximately 219 million in April 2024 to 154.6 million by September 2024.
The subsequent recovery to more than 200 million active subscriptions in September 2026 signals a gradual rebuilding of the market, although the distribution of subscribers shows that MTN has consolidated a significantly larger share of the growth.
Meanwhile, active internet subscriptions across mobile, fixed and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) networks increased to 160.9 million in September.
Mobile internet subscriptions accounted for the bulk of the growth, rising from approximately 158 million in August to 160.4 million in September.
Fixed wireless internet connections also increased from 227,910 to 248,651 during the period.
However, VoIP subscriptions declined from 226,766 in August to 223,843 in September, while updated Internet Service Provider (ISP) figures were not available in the NCC’s latest data.