Nigeria’s internet services industry has changed a lot in the past ten years. MTN and Airtel are now the two strongest players in the market, while Globacom (popularly called Glo) is struggling after losing many of its customers.
MTN, the biggest telecom company in the country, has grown from 26 million internet users in 2013 to 75 million in 2025. Airtel has also grown fast. In 2013 it had far fewer users, but by 2025 it has nearly four times as many and is now the second largest internet service provider in Nigeria.
On the other hand, Glo has had a difficult time. In 2023, Glo had an average of 43.7 million internet subscribers. But by 2025, that number has dropped sharply to only 15.8 million. This is a very big loss in a short time.
The main reason for this is a government rule that all SIM cards must now be linked to the owner’s National Identification Number (NIN). Many SIM cards that were not properly linked had to be deactivated starting in 2024. Also, a check by the government regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), showed that Glo had earlier reported more subscribers than it really had before this rule was enforced, according to reports by The Guardian and BusinessDay.
Meanwhile, 9mobile, which used to be one of the four main telecom companies in Nigeria, is also losing customers. Its internet users have been dropping since 2016, and now in 2025 the number is below 2 million.
As a result of all these changes, MTN and Airtel together now serve most of the people using internet on mobile phones in Nigeria. The market is no longer as competitive as it used to be when all four companies were strong.
