Glo gained more subscribers than MTN and Airtel during lockdown season

Indigenous telecommunications company, Glo, gained more data subscribers than its competition in the period spanning December 2019 to May of 2020, according to latest data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

Glo gained 8.302 million data subscribers as it went from 28.934 million subscribers in December 2019 to 37.236 million by the end of May 2020.

In the same period under review, MTN gained 4.75 million data subscribers.

Airtel, which held the record of the second-highest subscriber base after MTN, gained 2.795 million subscribers, while 9mobile lost 812,827 subscribers within the same period.

The data shows that more people subscribed to the Glo network during the coronavirus induced restrictions, thanks in large part to its affordable data offerings, bundles and coverage.

MTN and Airtel currently have 58.863 million data subscribers and 37.317 million subscribers respectively.

What this translates to is that while MTN and Airtel managed to attract 689,593 and 41,791 subscribers in March and April (during the peak of the lockdown) respectively, Glo attracted 2.072 million new data subscribers within the same period.

Glo also has the lion's share of the telecoms market after MTN.

While MTN controls 39.61% of the Nigerian voice and data market as of May 2020, Glo follows closely behind with 27.12%.

Airtel and 9mobile control 26.83% and 6.37% of the market respectively, in the period under review.