Etisalat Nigeria was once one of the country’s biggest telecom success stories, attracting more than 23 million subscribers and emerging as a serious challenger to MTN Nigeria, Airtel Nigeria and Globacom. Today, the company operates under a different identity — T2 Mobile — after years of financial troubles, ownership changes and a dramatic loss of market share.
The transformation, which has seen the operator change names twice in less than a decade, highlights one of the most remarkable corporate turnarounds in Nigeria’s telecommunications industry, with the company now accounting for barely a fraction of the customer base it once commanded.
Brandspur Banking News Desk reports that Etisalat’s troubles began to surface after the company secured a $1.2 billion syndicated loan from a consortium of 13 Nigerian banks in 2013 to refinance existing obligations and fund network expansion. The debt later became difficult to sustain as economic conditions deteriorated.
A combination of falling oil prices, foreign exchange pressures and naira depreciation pushed the operator into crisis, forcing the intervention of regulators and eventually leading to the exit of Etisalat Group and key shareholder Mubadala Investment Company in 2017.
The departure of the Emirati telecom giant marked the end of the Etisalat era and gave rise to 9mobile, a new identity intended to reassure customers and stabilise operations. But the rebranding failed to reverse years of underinvestment and mounting competitive pressure from larger rivals.
Subscriber numbers continued to shrink as millions of customers migrated to competing networks. From a peak of more than 23 million active lines and about 14 per cent market share, the operator’s customer base plunged to around 2.4 million subscribers by mid-2025, leaving it with just 1.42 per cent of the market.
Determined to revive the struggling business, LH Telecommunication Limited acquired a controlling stake in the operator in 2024 and embarked on another overhaul. In August 2025, 9mobile officially became T2 Mobile, signalling a fresh attempt to reinvent the brand and reposition it for growth.
The company has since pursued a national roaming partnership with MTN Nigeria to improve coverage and service quality, but the road back remains steep in a market dominated by stronger and better-capitalised competitors.
For many industry observers, the journey from Etisalat to 9mobile and now T2 Mobile is a reminder of how quickly fortunes can change in Nigeria’s telecom sector. Once celebrated as the industry’s rising star, the operator is now fighting to reclaim relevance after losing more than 20 million subscribers and much of the influence that once made it a formidable force in the market.
