9mobile, Nigeria’s fourth-largest telecom operator, has seen its market share plummet to a historic low of 1.99% as its number of subscribers (3.2 million) remained stagnant for two consecutive months, according to data from the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC). This is a dramatic decline from the 23.4 million subscribers it boasted in 2015 when the company—then Etisalat Nigeria—had around 15.7% of the market share.
While 9mobile’s subscriber base has remained flat, other telecom operators have grown. Market leader MTN Nigeria increased its share to 51% with 84.6 million subscribers, up from 81.2 million in November.
Airtel also grew, reaching 56.6 million subscribers in December, up from 55.4 million in November. Globacom, which faced a sharp drop in subscribers earlier in 2024 due to a regulatory audit, grew its subscriber base from 19.6 million to 20.1 million by the end of the year.
9mobile was the only major telco that did not improve its subscriber count in 2024, raising concerns about its declining performance.
Light House Telecom acquired a 95% stake in 9mobile in July 2024 for an estimated $750 million. Since it took over, the company has appointed a new chief executive and chief operating officer. In December 2024, it also moved different department heads intending to strengthen the company, according to two former employees.
The new owners are yet to inject capital into the business, which is seen as critical to moving the company forward.
“The funding is still not clear. The new buyer has not done anything, no new deployment, they haven’t done any maintenance. They may start putting in money now that the tariffs have increased,” said a telecom executive who chose to remain anonymous to speak freely about the company.
The lack of capital investment is especially concerning given the operational challenges 9mobile is facing. Industry insiders stress that for 9mobile to regain market share, it must modernize its network infrastructure, improve customer acquisition efforts, and potentially reduce prices to remain competitive. Without the necessary funding, these objectives will be hard to achieve.
9mobile’s stagnant subscriber base reflects the broader challenges facing the company, including network maintenance and customer retention. However, without capital for new initiatives, it risks falling further behind its competitors, who continue to invest in expanding their services.
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I am the CEO of 9JAGISTLAND.My name is Adedeji Timothy and my co-owner is Oyekola Damilare.This blog is born out of our passion to educating to people in all aspect of internet life.We are enthusiastic about writing posts and articles online.
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