The latest mobile cellular subscriber base figures for the period ending August 2014, indicate second largest telco, Vodafone Ghana has swung into subscriber loss mode, recording loses month-on-month between June and August.

Vodafone has since January increased both voice and data subscribers consistently. But between June and August it has lost a total of 475,226 data customers and 60,721 voice customers, which is more than four times the total number of Expresso’s subscribers currently.

Between June and July, Vodafone lost 87,626 data subs and it lost a further 387,600 data subs between July and August.

It is however important to note that a loss of data subs does not necessarily mean a loss of voice subs because some subscribers may quit the data service but keep their voice account.

But the figures, as published by the National Communication Authority (NCA) would show that Vodafone is also shaky on the voice front.

Between May and June it lost some 54,414 customers but recovered quickly in July with additional 71,363. But it lost again in August, by 60,721.

Vodafone launched the Red package last year, offering various bundles that included data, voice and SMS packages. The Red packages were touted as some of the best on the market, driving data subs uptake for Vodafone. But the latest figures do not uphold that claim any longer.

Vodafone therefore finished the period under review with 6,688,783 subs, representing 22.65% market share. It also finished with 2,067,705 representing 14.15% data market share.

Meanwhile, Expresso, which has been losing customers consistently for more than a year, made a marginal turn around, increasing subs from 122,356 in July to 123,825 in August 2014. But its data subs dropped by more than a thousand, and pundits still believe it is because of the lingering issues with the CLIQ dongle.

Tigo also continued to increase data subs as it has done throughout the year. It increased data subs by 56,248 between July and August, and now boasts of 2,097,558 data subs, representing 14.4% data market share.

But Tigo is yet to recover from the consistent loss in general subscriber base. It has been losing subs since the beginning of the year. But between June and July it recorded a marginal recovery, then dipped even deeper between July and August.

Tigo finished the period under review with 4,015,946 representing 13.6% market share. It still remains the telco with the most affordable on-net default voice tariff and one of the most affordable data tariffs in the country.

But the figures show Tigo is falling further away from Vodafone, while Airtel closes in on Tigo month on month.   

Airtel gained on both the voice and data fronts. It added on 97,016 new voice customers and also gained 36,897 new data customers.

Airtel therefore finished the period with 3,756,547 subs, representing 12.7% market share, and 2,066,155 data subs, representing 14.14% market share.

Glo has also been losing subs for a while now, but it also made a marginal gain of 35,711 subs between July and August, finishing with 1,404,426, which represents 4.76% market share.

On the data front, Glo also made gains. It added on 86,227 subs between July and August, and finished the period with 584,222 data subs, representing about 4% data market share.

Market leader MTN also maintained its winning ways by adding on 110,042 new customers between July and August to finish at 13,541,961, representing 45.86% market share. It also gained 53,325 new data customers to finish with 7,763,273 data subs, representing 53.12% market share.   

MTN has been promoting affordable smartphones and affordable data packages on its network, and the telco attributes the consistent increase in data customers and data revenue to that.

Meanwhile, the total mobile voice subscriptions in the country increased from 29,369,237 at the end of July, 2014 to 29,531,488 as at the end of August 2014. While total data subs also reached 14,615,048.

It is also important to note that data customers now constitute 49.5% of the total number of mobile subscriptions in the country.