MTN Nigeria still feeling the effects of the country’s SIM registration

MTN Nigeria says it is still feeling the effects of the country’s SIM registration regulations, which restrict network connectivity for unregistered cellphone users, as mobile subscribers fell by 57 000 in the third quarter ended September.

Despite the marginal quarter-on-quarter decline, Nigeria remains MTN Group’s largest market, with mobile subscribers increasing by nearly 10% to 74.1 million so far in 2022, according to the company’s quarterly financial results. MTN is the most populous country in Africa.

The company stated that the decline was expected as a result of the Nigerian Communications Commission’s (NCC) ongoing directive to limit outgoing calls for subscribers whose SIM cards were not linked to National Identity Numbers (NINs).

“As a result, there was a marginal quarter-on-quarter decline in mobile subscribers by approximately 57 000,” the company said.

Nigerian authorities ordered cellphone companies in April to prohibit all phones not linked to ID numbers from making outgoing voice calls.

MTN Nigeria is currently registering users for SIM cards, and as of the end of September, approximately 10.5 million users who had been restricted from making outgoing calls had submitted their NINs for verification, with 3.8 million reactivated.

To offset the impact of churn, the company said it would continue to ramp up connections and roll out NIN recovery offers. The average daily gross connection was 48.1% higher than before the directive, owing in part to the cohort of subscribers who were initially restricted and chose to register new SIMs.

MTN, Africa’s largest wireless operator, was sanctioned in 2015 for failing to disconnect 5.1 million subscribers in Nigeria, amid concerns that the lines were being used by Boko Haram insurgents.

The company announced on Monday that quarterly voice revenue increased by 4.4% in the nine months ending in September, as more customers were reactivated and gross connections increased.

Revenue from services increased by 20.6% to 1.45 trillion naira (R60 billion), while profit after tax increased by 22.1% to 269 billion naira.

Fintech revenue increased by 21.9%, which is a significant contributor to revenue. The service includes the hugely popular Mobile Money (MoMo) platform, with 11.2 million active users up 68.7% year on year.