Third quarter mobile subscriber base published by the National Communication Authority (NCA) indicate at September ending that Tigo posted 3,998,489 subscribers representing almost 19.6% market share, and Vodafone posted 3,890,083 subscribers, representing almost 19.1% market share. This is a clear indication that Vodafone is close to taking over from Tigo as the second biggest player on the market, industry experts have said. Tigo actually lost some 157,574 subscribers, which is 3.8% of the 4,156,063 subscribers it had in August 2011, to 3,998,489 subscribers September ending, whiles Vodafone gained some 312,520 between July and September. Tigo has been facing a topsy turvy rate since January 2011, and in June it presented figures to the NCA, which showed it had been overtaken by Vodafone Ghana, but the company presented new set of figures to indicate it was still the second largest operator on the market in terms of subscriber base. Vodafone started operations in Ghana in 2009, and in September of that year Vodafone had 13.9% market share, and Tigo was way ahead of Vodafone with 23.4% market share. But one year on, in September, 2010, Vodafone had inched in towards Tigo with 15.2% market share, whiles Tigo's market share had dropped marginally to 23.1%. Meanwhile, total number of mobile subscriptions in Ghana now is 20,419,635 representing 80.5% of Ghana’s population, and fixed line subscription is also 294,306. MTN Ghana firmly maintained its lead with 9,894,074 subscribers, representing 48.4% market share at the end of the period under review, but CEO Michael Ikpoki is confident the company would get 10 million subscribers before the close of October 2011. Airtel also crossed the two million line, increasing subscribers by 504,657, from 1,928,179 in July to 2,432,836 representing over 11.9% market share at the close of September, 201l Expresso was also consistent in its loses from the beginning of the year, falling from 219,290 in July 2011 to 204,153 representing less than one per cent market share by the end of September, 2011.