MTN Nigeria Maintains Market Leadership In Internet, GSM Usage~ NCC

South Africa's local unit of MTN has continued to dominate Nigeria telecommunications market with steady growth in the numbers of subscribers to its network, according to the latest data from the industry regulator.The data showed that MTN Nigeria is leading in all segments of the market,
Total numbers of internet subscribers rose 2.6 percent in May to 122,624,417 across the spectrum against the figure in the previous month, data from the industry regulator has shown.
Numbers of internet users stood at 119,506,430 in April, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) latest data.
The growth in the numbers of internet users in May was, however, lower than the figure in the previous month.
Numbers of new subscribers rose by 3.12 million month-on-month in May compared with 3.6 million new users in April.
MTN Nigeria grew its new subscriber numbers by 2,406,627 in May, hitting 52.433 million users at the end of May.
MTN Nigeria, which listed on the premium board of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in May has also continued to dominate the telecoms segment of the stock market.
Airtel came second with 595,093 new Internet users in May, increasing its subscription to 31,932,750 in May as against 31,337,657 in April.
9mobile, which hitherto was a market leader in the internet segment was the biggest loser as more subscribers are dumping the mobile telecoms firm network for its rivals.
The NCC data further showed that 9mobile lost 90,866 Internet users in May and was left with 9,350,477 users in May as against 9,441,343 recorded in April.
Globacom also gained more Internet subscribers during the month under review. The firm gained 198,142 new Internet users in the month under review, increasing its subscription to 28,825,533 in May as against 28,627,391 recorded in April.
The data revealed that 800Hz spectrum MTN got from Visafone recorded 82,637 Internet users in May as against 73,646 in April.
MTN remains the largest mobile network provider in the country by the number of subscribers, dominating 37 percent market share, Globacom maintained the second position with 27 percent market share, while Airtel is the third largest with 26 percent market share and 9mobile holds nine percent market share and the 800Hz Visafone spectrum has one percent market share.

including internet and mobile phone usage. While more people are subscribing to mobile internet usage in the country, MTN sustained its leadership position with 37 percent of market share.