Subscriber shake-up
Nigeria’s mobile subscriber base dropped by 30.09% to 153.32 million in September 2024 due to telecom companies deactivating 65.98 million…
Nigeria’s mobile subscriber base dropped by 30.09% to 153.32 million in September 2024 due to telecom companies deactivating 65.98 million SIMs unlinked to a National Identification Number (NIN). As of 14 September 2024, active mobile lines had decreased from 219.30 million in March 2024. This change follows the Nigerian Communications Commission’s directive to unlink all unverified SIMs, ending the SIM-NIN linkage exercise. The NCC reported a 96% compliance rate, with over 153 million SIMs linked to NINs by August 2024, up from 69.7% in January, highlighting substantial improvement in registration compliance.
A 30.09% fall in what is the biggest non-oil tax-paying industry’s customer base is very material. The decline in subscribers reflects how the telecommunication industry is performing. When active numbers dropped, revenue also dropped. The stated policy of linking SIM data to NIN data was executed in a haphazard manner that kept attempting to shock the market into acting instead of planning it out in an orderly manner. This is one of the outcomes of such an approach. The impact was felt most strongly by 9mobile, which lost a significant number of subscribers. As the smallest telecom provider with around three million active users, this situation limits its ability to compete with larger players. Additionally, expected benefits in security, traceability, and other areas tied to a unified identity have yet to materialise. We believe the industry should conduct a financial impact analysis of this policy and strongly advocate for some form of relief, potentially through tax measures. This would help cushion its impact.