Nigeria’s telecoms industry stages a comeback after last year's NIN-SIM slump
One year after the NIN crisis in 2024, Nigeria telecoms industry is back on a growth trend led by Airtel and MTN.
After a turbulent 2024 that saw Nigeria’s mobile subscriptions tumble to their lowest levels in over a decade, the country’s telecoms sector is climbing back. Fresh data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) shows that active mobile lines hit 171.3 million in August 2025, a sharp rebound from the slump triggered by the government’s controversial NIN-SIM exercise in 2024.
The gains were led by the two giants of Nigeria’s telecoms industry, Airtel and MTN, who, between them, account for over 85% of the market. Their aggressive push to win back customers has helped restore momentum to a sector that just a year ago was facing questions about credibility and growth.
The Slump That Shook the Industry
To understand the current revival, it helps to look back at the dramatic slump that came just a year earlier.
In early 2024, the government’s National Identification Number (NIN)-Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) linkage policy, designed to crack down on unregistered and fraudulent phone lines, sent shockwaves through the market.
