Nigeria remained the dominant telecoms market in West Africa in 2024, accounting for 169.04 million mobile subscriptions representing 42.06% of the region’s total 401.87 million, according to a new study.
The report also highlights the dominance of MTN Nigeria, which had 87.55 million subscribers as of January 31, 2025 more than all telecoms operators in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana combined.
The Africa Telecom 50 Report 2024 (West Africa), released in Abuja by Alford Conferences Limited and made available to Technology Times, ranked Côte d’Ivoire (42.77 million subscriptions) and Ghana (38.29 million subscriptions) as the second and third largest mobile markets in West Africa. Together, the three countries accounted for 62.24% of all mobile subscriptions in the region.
MTN Nigeria dominates with over 87 million subscribers
The report also highlights the dominance of MTN Nigeria, which had 87.55 million subscribers as of January 31, 2025 more than all telecoms operators in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana combined.
Other major players included:
• Airtel Nigeria – 57.67 million subscribers
• MTN Ghana – 28.62 million subscribers
• Globacom (Nigeria) – 20.55 million subscribers
• Orange Côte d’Ivoire – 17.46 million subscribers
At the other end of the scale, Hayo Senegal was ranked the smallest operator in the region, with just 28,980 mobile subscriptions as of December 31, 2024.
Call for improved telecoms data transparency
During the report’s launch, Frederick Apeji, CEO of Alford Conferences Limited, praises telecoms regulators in eight West African countries for publishing market share data, but wants the remaining seven, including Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Sierra Leone, to follow suit.
“In compiling the mobile subscription figures for each of the licensed and active mobile network operators (MNOs) in the 15 countries of West Africa, we relied, first of all, on the market share data of these MNOs supplied by the telecommunications industry regulator of these countries. The telecoms regulator of eight of them (Benin Republic, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, Niger Republic, Nigeria, Senegal, and Togo,) have such data published on their website; making the collation for their MNOs seamless and accurate. We commend these regulators, and we encourage the seven others to take a cue from this. In those countries with no updated information by their regulator (Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, and Sierra Leone), we relied on the most recent data supplied by the MNOs themselves. And when neither the regulator nor the operators have updated information on this subject, we relied on various online news websites and other online information sources,” Apeji says.
According to Apeji, “the most current data to rank the 46 MNOs in the West Africa section of this continental report is on the Nigerian companies: MTN Nigeria, Airtel Nigeria, Globacom and 9Mobile (January 31, 2025). The least current data is on the Gambian companies: Africell, QCell, Gamcel and Comium (December 31, 2020).”
Nigeria, he adds, had the most current telecoms data (January 31, 2025), while Gambia’s figures were last updated in 2020.
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