MTN, Nigeria’s largest mobile operator with more
than 58 million subscribers, reportedly lost more
than 80,000 Nigerian subscribers for the third
quarter ending 30 September 2014.
The quarterly update which was released last week
Thursday shows that the Telco firm’s operation in
Nigeria has suffered a decline. The company
recorded 58.363,000 million subscribers, a figure
lower than the 58.446,000 million subscribers it
reported in the second quarter.
MTN has blamed the decline on regulatory
restrictions, a ‘dominant operator’ ruling – the
Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has
threatened sanctions on the communications giant
for abusing its dominant position in the country’s
telecommunications market – and even instability in
Nigeria’s northern areas which is largely plagued by
the Boko Haram attacks.
Meanwhile, Nigerian losses were mitigated by South
African gains. MTN’s South African operations
rebounded for the period, adding 1.4 million net
additions for the quarter, increasing its subscriber
base by 5.7% to 26.7 million.