There was a total of 41,419 incoming porters in the first quarter of 2017 (across all three months). This compares with a total of 49,547 in the final quarter of 2016, and 51,301 in the first quarter of 2016, decreases of 16.40% and 19.26% respectively. Quarter on quarter, Airtel and MTN recorded increases, whereas Etisalat and Globacom recorded decreases.
In contrast to the previous two quarters in which Airtel recorded the largest decreases in percentage terms, the number of porters switching to Airtel nearly doubled, increasing by 99.07%. However, this was from a low base, and in March 2017 there were still only 6,856, considerably below the number recorded by Airtel in previous periods.
The increase of 10.10% incoming porters to MTN brought their total number to 4,817 in the first quarter of 2017, which is the highest quarterly number recorded for this provider. Etisalat recorded the largest decline of 29.06%, which brought their number to 27,249, although this was still by far the largest number of incoming porters recorded by any provider. Globacom recorded a decline of 24.72% which brought their number to 4,817.
