Nigerians abandon Glo, Airtel, others for MTN as 35,154 subscribers port in one year

Data released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has shown that 35,154 subscribers ported their GSM lines from one network to another within one year.

In search of better service, MTN, Globacom, Airtel, and 9mobile subscribers ported their lines from one network to another between August 2022 and August 2023.

MTN had the largest market share of 38.58% and the largest subscriber base, with 85,005,917 as of August 2023, according to ThisDay report.

MTN also had the most number of subscribers that ported their lines from other networks to its network (inward porting), followed by Airtel, Globacom, and 9mobile, which had the fewest number of subscribers that ported into their network in the past year.

Number porting is moving a subscriber's GSM number from one network to another while keeping the same number on the new network to obtain higher-quality service.

It is known as inward porting when a network obtains new GSM numbers while porting, and it is known as outward porting when a network loses its current GSM numbers.

The data showed that MTN took the top position regarding inward porting, or the number of users who have ported to its network during the past year. According to the statistics, the largest number of users moving from other networks to the MTN network occurred in August of last year, with 1,617 total.

Additionally, 2,040, 1,935, 1,680, and 1,812 customers moved their lines to the MTN network in September, October, November, and December of 2022, respectively. These numbers were the highest among those who migrated their lines during those months.

According to NCC statistics, MTN had 1,688 subscribers who migrated to its network in January 2023 and 1,522 subscribers in February 2023. These numbers represent the highest porting (inward porting) for those months. In that order, MTN also had the most significant number of inbound porting in March, April, and May of 2023—1,555, 2,096, and 2,138.

Then, according to NCC data, MTN once more had the most significant number of inbound porting in June, July, and August of 2023—1,545, 3,410, and 1,682, respectively.