T2 Mobile, formerly known as 9mobile, has posted its first subscriber gain in nearly two years. This is going against the current wider downturn in Nigeria’s telecom sector.
Data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) shows the operator added 290,601 new users in July 2025, raising its customer base to 2.7 million from 2.4 million the previous month. This pushed its market share from 1.4% to 1.6%, marking the company’s first net growth since late 2023.
The rebound follows T2’s August rebrand and a new roaming agreement with MTN Nigeria, which allows its subscribers to access MTN’s extensive nationwide network. Industry analysts say both moves may have helped restore customer confidence in the struggling operator.
By contrast, the rest of the industry contracted sharply. Airtel Nigeria recorded the steepest drop, losing 2.4 million customers in July to close at 56.5 million. Globacom shed 143,701 users, leaving it with 20.7 million subscribers, while MTN Nigeria slipped by 106,345 to 89.1 million. Overall, the industry lost 2.4 million active lines—the sharpest monthly decline since February 2025.
Although higher tariffs introduced in January have weighed on growth, some industry executives argue that the ongoing NCC audit is a bigger factor. The regulator has been enforcing stricter reporting rules, including the delisting of numbers inactive for 365 days.
“I think the drop is attributable to the ongoing industry audit,” one telecom executive said. “Operators are continuously delisting numbers that have been inactive for 365 days, in line with the NCC’s guidelines.”
The NCC launched the audit in July 2024 to address inflated subscriber reporting. The clean-up saw more than 64 million inactive lines removed, cutting Nigeria’s active base from 219 million to 154.6 million by September that year. Smaller operators were hit hardest, with Globacom and 9mobile losing nearly 70% of their reported subscribers.
To tighten oversight further, the NCC rolled out its 2025 Telecom Identity Risk Management Policy (TIRMP). Under the policy, any number with no revenue-generating activity for 180 days is flagged as inactive and becomes eligible for churn after a full year of dormancy.
“Please note that if you have not made a revenue-generating event on your mobile number for 365 days, the line can be churned,” the NCC warned in a June 2025 post.
Despite the industry’s decline, internet traffic continues to rise. NCC data shows Nigeria hit a record 1.1 billion terabytes of data usage in July.
