Airtel Africa has become the second largest telecom operator in Nigeria overtaking Glo, according to data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). MTN is the market leader.
According to NCC, Airtel Nigeria recorded customer number of 26,194,336 in February 2014, while Glo had 24,490,650, MTN had 57,183,745 and Etisalat had 18,119,397 subscribers.
Christian de Faria, Airtel Africa CEO, said: “This is a remarkable feat for Airtel, demonstrating that our investments, aimed at ensuring a superior experience for our customers in Nigeria, are bearing fruit. It is also a clear indication of the trust that a growing sector of the population have started to have in us.”
Credit Suisse, a financial-services group, in July last year said that Airtel market share has improved markedly in Nigeria growing by 21.3 percent, in the ten months leading to April 2013. Credit Suisse noted that Airtel has the advantage of growing its share using the existing, unutilized capacity on its network.
Since the launch in 2010, Airtel has invested over $1.7 billion to expand network capacity and deepen quality in Nigeria, in a bid to achieve world-class service quality.
The company’s launch of its 3.75G service in March 2012 and the subsequent roll-out, has offered high-speed mobile Internet, across the 36 States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory in Abuja.
