According to the 2016 first quarter telecoms industry report recently published by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Nigeria’s biggest telecommunication provider, MTN Nigeria, lost 6.5 million data subscribers.
The report revealed that MTN kicked off the year with 39,924,737 internet subscribers and ended the first quarter with 33,356,595.
South Africa-based MTN had been fined a record N780 billion by Nigeria’s Communications Commission (NCC) on October 26, 2015, for non-compliance with a deadline set by the NCC to disconnect all unregistered sim cards.
The decline in MTN’s data subscribers is not really a surprise to industry experts as the company itself had earlier reported in February that its subscriber base had dipped by 6.9%.
With over 55 million subscribers, MTN Nigeria has been providing cellular network access and ICT solutions to millions of Nigerians since 2001. The company is also the largest subsidiary in the MTN Group.