Telecommunications operator 9mobile, which recently rebranded as T2, has posted its first subscriber growth in nearly a year, adding 290,601 new customers in July 2025.
The gain, attributed largely to the company’s new infrastructure sharing and national roaming agreement with MTN, comes as a major turnaround for the telco, which has endured a steady decline in its customer base over the years.
According to fresh industry data, T2 was the only one of Nigeria’s four major mobile network operators (MNOs) to record subscriber growth in July. In contrast, MTN, Airtel, and Globacom all suffered losses during the same period.
Nigeria’s active mobile subscriptions fell sharply to 169.1 million in July, down from 171.5 million in June, mainly due to heavy losses recorded by Airtel.
- Airtel shed 2.4 million customers, cutting its base to 56.5 million.
- MTN lost 106,345 subscribers, closing at 89.1 million.
- Globacom also declined by 143,701 to 20.7 million.
Despite the losses, MTN maintained market dominance with 52.70% share, followed by Airtel at 33.42%, Globacom at 12.26%, and 9mobile/T2 trailing with 1.61%.
The downturn in active lines also dragged Nigeria’s teledensity to 78.11% in July, down from 79.22% in June, based on the NCC’s population estimate of 216 million.
The turnaround for T2 follows its July 3rd national roaming deal with MTN, approved by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). The agreement allows 9mobile customers to latch onto MTN’s extensive network in areas where 9mobile coverage is weak or non-existent.
This move is expected to help T2 cut the high cost of network expansion, improve service reliability, and restore customer confidence after years of infrastructure decline.
“With the roaming deal, 9mobile subscribers can now make calls, send SMS, and browse seamlessly using MTN’s infrastructure, a development that could be pivotal to the telco’s sustainability,” telecom analysts noted.
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