over 5 million subscribers of mtn have ditched there lines with the telco outfit in Nigeria

Over 5 million subscribers of MTN, Africa’s largest mobile phone
operator, have ditched their lines with the telco outfit in Nigeria.
MTN reported a slowdown in quarterly subscriber growth on
Thursday, caused by stiff competition and tougher regulation in the
Nigerian market.
MTN said users increased 0.9 per cent in the three months to end-
September, a slowdown from 2 per cent growth the same time a
year ago.
Chief Executive Sifiso Dabengwa said the company’s subscriber
base in Nigeria fell marginally after more than 5 million users
disconnected from the network having failed to register their SIM
cards.
“Aggressive price competition, weakening macroeconomic
conditions in most of our markets and unfavourable exchange rate
movements continued to impact financial performance for the
quarter,” Dabengwa said.
Although mobile phone penetration is still well below 100 percent in
Africa, growth in users is set to slow sharply in the next five years
because the industry finds little commercial logic in deploying
networks in remote, rural areas.