Telecom operator and grandmasters of data, Globacom, has made history by recording 68% of all additional GSM lines in the country in the last 12 months.

Newly released figures on the telecommunications industry for June 2015 to June 2016 showed that a total of 7,477,977 new lines were added by GSM operators during the period. Of this figure, Globacom alone amassed 5,063,895 subscribers, representing 68%.

With the additional figure, Globacom’s subscriber base rose to 36.3m at the end of June this year. This saw its market share increasing significantly from 21% to 24%.

Also, the network has for the past one and half years been the preferred data services provider in the country. In June 2016, for instance, while the industry gained a total of 318,008 new internet subscribers, Globacom alone had 272,674 of the new customers. This meant that about 86 percent of the new internet subscribers in June chose Glo.

The latest report by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) showed that Airtel came second to Glo as it added 2,414,082 new customers in the last one year ending in June. Airtel, whose subscriber base stood at 29,564,766 at the middle of last year, had 31,978,848 customers at the end of June 2016. This still keeps its share of the GSM market at 21%.

Conversely, both MTN and Etisalat witnessed losses in their subscriber figures. While Etisalat lost 382,336 customers, MTN’s subscriber base went down by 4,403,344 in the last one year.

Further analysis of the report showed that MTN which once had over 45% share of the market had this reduced to 39% at the end of June with 58.4m subscribers. Glo had a total of 31,256,677 customers by June 2015, whereas MTN had 62,813,111.

In effect, while Glo has continued to reduce the gap between it and MTN, it has created a substantial gap between it and Airtel. Both Glo and Airtel each had 21% market share only three months ago.

For Etisalat, its market share was 15% as it had 22,469,896 customers at the end of June, 2016, down from 22,852,232 at the same time last year.

Globacom’s lead in the voice segment of the industry complements its status as clear leader in the data market where it has for the last one year remained tops in new internet subscriber acquisition.

Industry watchers are of the view that the significant growth of Globacom is a result of the massive network upgrade which it carried out recently. It is also credited with offering the most innovative products and services in the sector.