T2, previously 9mobile, posts first subscriber acquire in 20 months

T2 Cellular, previously 9mobile, posted its first subscriber acquire in almost two years in July 2025, reversing a 20-month decline, at the same time as Nigeria’s telecom trade shed 2.4 million prospects, in keeping with the Nigerian Communications Fee (NCC) knowledge.

The rebound comes on the heels of T2’s August 2025 rebrand and a roaming take care of MTN Nigeria, giving its subscribers entry to MTN’s community throughout the nation.

In July, T2 added 290,601 customers, increasing its base to 2.7 million from 2.4 million in June, and marking its first web development since late 2023. Its market share additionally inched up from 1.4% in June to 1.6% in July, suggesting early indicators of restoration.

In contrast, the remainder of the telco trade contracted. Airtel Nigeria led the decline, shedding 2.4 million prospects in July, shrinking its base to 56.5 million from 58.9 million in June. Globacom shed 143,701 customers to finish the month with 20.7 million subscribers, whereas MTN Nigeria slipped by 106,345 to 89.1 million from 89.2 million in June.

The trade’s lack of 2.4 million subscribers in July was the sharpest since February 2025, underscoring the sector’s ongoing battle to regain development momentum after tariff hikes launched in January. 

Nonetheless, some trade gamers argue that larger tariffs alone don’t clarify the decline, given the central position of information in important providers resembling digital banking. Web knowledge site visitors—a transparent indicator of Nigeria’s rising digital urge for food—has been climbing steadily since March and reached a report 1.1 billion terabytes in July 2025.  

“I feel the drop is attributable to the continued trade audit,” mentioned one telecom govt who requested to not be named to talk freely. “Operators are repeatedly delisting numbers which have been inactive for three hundred and sixty five days, consistent with the NCC’s pointers.”

In July 2024, the Nigerian Communications Fee (NCC) launched a sector-wide audit geared toward enhancing transparency and accuracy in subscriber reporting. The train scrutinised billing techniques and subscriber information after earlier knowledge corrections, together with the NIN-SIM linkage, revealed widespread over-counting of lively strains. 

The clean-up resulted within the removing of greater than 64 million inactive subscriptions, chopping Nigeria’s lively cell base from 219.01 million to 154.63 million by September 2024. All main operators had been affected: MTN’s base fell by 4.5%, Airtel by 15%, whereas Globacom and 9mobile had been hit hardest with declines of 69% and 68%, respectively. In a single case, an operator was discovered to have overstated almost 40 million “lively” numbers that had generated no income for over 90 days.

To tighten oversight, the NCC adopted up with its 2025 Telecom Identification Threat Administration Coverage (TIRMP), which set stricter guidelines for managing inactive strains. Beneath the coverage, any quantity with no revenue-generating exercise—resembling calls, SMS, billed USSD, or knowledge utilization—for 180 days is classed as inactive. If this inactivity persists for one more 180 days, the quantity turns into eligible for “churning” and could also be reassigned after three hundred and sixty five days of whole dormancy.

“Please observe that in case you have not made a revenue-generating occasion in your cell quantity for three hundred and sixty five days, the road might be churned,” the NCC mentioned in a June 2025 submit. “Nonetheless, service suppliers frequently ship a file containing lists of churned numbers to the banks.”

Mark your calendars! Moonshot by TechCabal is again in Lagos on October 15–16! Be a part of Africa’s high founders, creatives & tech leaders for two days of keynotes, mixers & future-forward concepts. Early fowl tickets now 20% off—don’t snooze! moonshot.techcabal.com