The largest network operator in Nigeria, MTN is now close to the 100 million active subscriptions mark as its database hit 96.9 million in May.

According to the latest industry statistics released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) total mobile subscriptions across the four networks, including Airtel, Globacom, and T2 stood at 189.4 million at the end of the month.

The May subscription figure came as the highest recorded since April 2024 when the combined mobile database stood at 216.6 million.

What the data is saying

With its May subscriptions figure, MTN accounted for 51.19% share of the country’s mobile market, emphasizing its dominance position in the industry.

  • Airtel Nigeria, the second operator by subscriber number closed May with 65.4 million active subscriptions, accounting for 34.55% of the market share.
  • Globacom maintained its third position with 23.4 million active subscriptions as of May, representing 12.39% share of the market.
  • Meanwhile, despite its rebranding about a year ago, T2, formerly known as 9mobile remain a distant 4th operator with 3.5 million subscriptions as of May end.
  • NCC’s data reveals that T2 has remained within the 3 million subscription band since September 2025.

The telco, which once had over 22 million subscriptions has continued to struggle in winning more customers despite an infrastructure sharing deal signed with MTN in July last year.

More insights

MTN’s steady subscriber growth is also reflecting in the company’s financial performance as the company’s revenue continues to grow.

For the first half of 2026, Nairametrics reported that MTN hit record N1.09 trillion profit before tax representing a 75.4% year-on-year increase.

This came as the company’s highest half year performance driven by strong data demand, improved operating efficiency and lower borrowing levels boosted earnings.

The telecommunications giant also recorded a 25.9% increase in its revenue to N2.99 trillion despite a challenging macroeconomic environment.

According to the company’s CEO, Karl Toriola, MTN’s performance reflected the resilience of demand for the company’s services, disciplined execution across the business and continued focus on efficiency in a challenging operating environment.

What you should know

The growth in subscriptions and the rising data consumption is also putting pressure on the telecom operators to invest more in expanding their infrastructure capacity.

  • In response to this challenge, NCC recently disclosed that the telecom operators have committed to upgrading 12,000 sites this year to improve service quality across the country.
  • According to Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, Dr. Aminu Maida, operators carried out just over 3000 site upgrades for coverage and capacity in 2025, but with a commitment to 12,000 in 2026, they are now ramping up infrastructure investments and network expansion.
  • He explained that the upgrades include additional spectrum deployment on 4G sites as well as the conversion of older 2G and 3G sites to 4G and 5G infrastructure.

Maida noted that the current pace of deployment shows the industry is already ahead of last year’s performance.