In a significant turnaround, T2 Mobile, formerly known as 9mobile, has posted its first subscriber gain since late 2023, reversing a 20-month decline. This comes as the Nigerian telecom industry as a whole shed 2.4 million customers in July 2025, according to data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). T2’s rebound can be linked to its rebrand in August 2025 and a new roaming deal with MTN Nigeria, which gives T2 subscribers access to MTN’s extensive network nationwide.
In July, T2 added 290,601 users, bringing its total customer base to 2.7 million, up from 2.4 million in June. Its market share also saw a slight bump, from 1.4% to 1.6%.
In contrast, other major players experienced a decline:
- Airtel Nigeria lost 2.4 million customers, shrinking its base to 56.5 million.
- Globacom shed 143,701 users, ending the month with 20.7 million subscribers.
- MTN Nigeria slipped by 106,345 users to 89.1 million.
This industry-wide contraction is the sharpest since February 2025, highlighting the ongoing challenges the sector faces in regaining growth momentum following tariff hikes introduced in January. While tariff increases are a factor, some telecom executives believe the drop is primarily due to a sector-wide audit aimed at improving the accuracy of subscriber data.
The NCC launched this audit in July 2024 to enhance transparency after previous data corrections, such as the NIN-SIM linkage, revealed a widespread over-counting of active lines. The audit led to the removal of over 64 million inactive subscriptions by September 2024, significantly shrinking Nigeria’s active mobile base.
This “clean-up” affected all major operators, with 9mobile and Globacom being hit hardest, experiencing declines of 68% and 69% respectively. In one instance, an operator was found to have overstated its “active” lines by nearly 40 million, with many of these numbers generating no revenue for over 90 days.
To prevent this from happening again, the NCC introduced the 2025 Telecom Identity Risk Management Policy (TIRMP). The policy sets stricter rules for managing inactive lines. A number is now considered inactive after 180 days without any revenue-generating activity, such as calls, SMS, or data usage. If this inactivity persists for another 180 days, the number can be “churned” and reassigned after a total of 365 days of dormancy. This ongoing audit and a stricter policy on inactive lines appear to be a major driver behind the recent subscriber losses across the industry.
