Mobile subscriber numbers rise; MTN crosses 14 million mark

The number of mobile voice subscribers in the country continues to soar, however marginally.

According to latest market statistics released by the National Communications Authority (NCA), the industry regulator on its website, total number of subscribers as at the end of February 2015 stood at 31,028,253. 

This was 398,649 more than the January figure and represented a rise of 1.3 per cent. 

Four players gain

MTN Ghana, the market leader since the inception of GSM mobile telephony in the country, realised an increase in its subscription by 173,496 in the period under review. 

As a result, the company’s subscriber numbers crossed the 14 million mark to record 14,113,432 subscribers at the end of February, as against the January figure of 13,939,936.

Vodafone Ghana, which recently launched a campaign to drum home its network quality, also witnessed a rise in its January subscriber figure of 7,177,032 to end February 2015 with a figure of 7,300,497.

This represents an increase of 123,465 subscriptions.

TiGo also saw a rise of 61,155 subscriptions from the January 2015 figures, bringing its February 2015 subscription to 4,264,078.

Airtel ended February 2015 with a subscriber numbers of 3,808,747, up by more than 57,612 subscriptions from the January figure of 3,751,135. 

Two losers

Glo Mobile, which entered the market with a lot of enthusiasm and vigour, has been struggling to maintain its grip on the market described as highly competitive and abrasive.

According to the NCA report, Glo Ghana’s mobile subscribers recorded a decrease of 16,816.

This brought its January’s figure of 1,438,929 down to 1,422,113 as at the end February 2015.

On the other hand, Expresso maintained its decent subscriber figures. 

It lost 263 subscriptions to bring its numbers down from 119,649 in January to 119,386 in February.