According to NCC, operators turned out inactive after massive loss of customers to the more competitive operators in the sector. “They could no longer provide their customers with competitive services and so the clients decided to port to other network operators,” stated NCC. The decision to declare the operators inactive, NCC says, was to enable it study and distribute the accurate figures of telecoms operations within Nigeria. As listed on NCC’s website, 13 inactive operators include one GSM operator, one national carrier, six Fixed/Fixed Wireless operators and five Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) operators. The operators include Reliance Telecoms (Zoom Mobile), Starcomms, MTel, NITEL, Disc Communications, Webcom, Xs Broadband, Monarch Communications, Rainbownet, O’ Net (Odua Telecoms), WiTel, MTS First Communications and Intercellular. “The operators became inactive because of their inability to cope with competition. For instance, Starcomms, was at some point the most vibrant and biggest CDMA operator in Nigeria though suddenly fell in a bid to further grow and extend the company,” stated NCC. Currently, the active telecom subscribers in Nigeria include MTN, Etisalat, Airtel, MultiLinks Telkom, 21st Century, Visafone and Globacom.
