Etisalat of UAE, which owns 40% of Etisalat Nigeria, says its local mobile phone business has resumed subscriber uptakes after disconnection of Nigerian phone subscribers.
The subscriber disconnection was in compliance with mandatory SIM Registration ordered by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the telecoms industry regulator.
However, despite the resumed subscriber growth, Etisalat of UAE says that the performance of Etisalat Nigeria operations is affected by what it cites as “worsening macro conditions.”
According to financial reports posted by the UAE’s mobile telephony conglomerate, its local business unit, Etisalat Nigeria which is coasting a tough year following the subscriber loss has resumed subscriber growth in the second quarter of 2016.
However, despite the resumed subscriber growth, Etisalat of UAE says that the performance of Etisalat Nigeria operations is affected by what it cites as “worsening macro conditions.”
Etisalat Nigeria, the number three mobile operator by subscriber numbers in Nigeria competes with MTN Nigeria, owned by MTN Group of South Africa; Globacom, the Second National Operator, owned by Nigerian businessman, Dr Mike Adenuga Jnr; Airtel Nigeria, owned by Bharti Airtel of India and nTel (formerly Nigerian Telecommunications Limited, NITEL), the pioneer National Operator in Nigeria, owned by Nigerian company NATCOM.
In Nigeria, Etisalat’s local operations revenue were impacted by the quartet of by currency devaluation, lower subscriber base, competitive data pricing and lower terminal sales, the UAE telecoms group reported in its financial statement reviewed by Technology Times.
For Etisalat, its local Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA), which is a measure of the mobile phone company’s operating performance, were impacted by higher interconnect and roaming costs, network costs and site rental charges.
Etisalat also reported that it posted lower capex spend resulting in capex intensity ratio of 6%.
On the home front, telecoms market information provided by NCC shows that as at October this year, the total active phone line in Nigeria was 153,514,107 split among mobile (GSM) (153,086,710); mobile CDMA (244,477); fixed wired/wireless (151,754) and VOIP (31,166).
The NCC figures also shows numbers for the four big mobile operators in Nigeria accounting for 152,836,997 active lines by September this year is split among MTN Nigeria (60,558,569); Globacom Limited (36,967,712), Airtel Nigeria (32,775,916) and Etisalat Nigeria (22,534,800).
