Contrary to several anti-Glo radio jingles and colour-tailored jingoism against the indigenous telecom giant, fact checks in the last five months (January – May 2020), have presented Globacom as leaders in data subscription upon all odds.
Latest stats released by the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) recently for the period ending May 2020, Glo overrun its competitors, as it gained 8.302 million data subscribers when it grew from 28.934 million in December 2019 to 37.236 million by the end of May 2020, while MTN gained 4.75 million data subscribers. Airtel, which used to be the second-highest in subscribers growth after MTN, recorded 2.795 million, while 9mobile lost 812,827 subscribers within the same period.
NCC’s data for the period ending December 2019, revealed that Nigeria’s largest mobile telecommunication company, MTN, gained 8.18 million data subscribers, and Airtel successfully edged out Glo in terms of data subscriber numbers, as the telco added 4.06 million subscribers over the indigenous brand.
The competition has taken a new twist so far in 2020 (January – May 2020). Though MTN and Airtel, the two Nigeria’s largest data sellers, have 58.863 million data subscribers and 37.317 million subscribers respectively, Glo, which is the third-largest came from behind to outrun the ‘big players’, as more subscribers opted for the service of the indigenous ISP during the economic lockdown imposed by the Coronavirus pandemic.
Stats as at now show that whereas MTN and Airtel managed to attract only 689,593 and 41,791 subscribers in March and April (Peak of the lockdown) respectively, Glo smiled to the bank, as it attracted new 2.072 million data subscribers within the same period.
Howver, in terms of market share, MTN maintains the lead, as it controls 39.61% of the market (May 2020), followed by Glo with 27.12%, then Airtel with 26.83%, and 9mobile with 6.37% within the same period.
