How Did Globacom Increase Its Internet Subscribers 25-fold In One Month?

Since I read Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis, my fascination for statistics has grown. This fascination, plus my background as a Communications Engineer, led me to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) website to check the Operator Statistics for Glo, MTN, Airtel and Etisalat for January to June 2013.

And I found something.

The table below is from the NCC website. It shows the number of active internet subscriptions for each Mobile Operator from February 2013 to June 2013.

Can you notice anything about it?

If you cannot still see it, I'll explain. From right to left, it shows:

1. Airtel had 8.2 million active internet subscriptions in May 2013 and 9.3 million in June 2013. A respectable increase of 13.8%.
2. Etisalat had 5.18 million active internet subscriptions in May 2013 and 5.17 million in June 2013. Slight decrease of 0.13%. Not terrible.
3. MTN had 24.4 million active internet subscriptions in May 2013 and 24.6 million in June 2013. An increase of 0.78%. Fair.
4. Globacom had 351,263 active internet subscriptions in May 2013 and 9.1 million in June 2013. An increase of nearly 2500%.

Here's how it looks on a graph.

Looking from May 2013 to June 2013 in the graph above, you can see the massive growth of the light-green part of the bar for June.

Alright. How does a Telecom Operator add over 8 million Active Internet Subscribers in just One Month?

Innovative Marketing? Free Internet?

I do not claim to know all that goes on in the Telecoms Industry, but I sure do keep myself informed. Yet, I can't explain it.

So, how do you think it happened?

PS: You can find these graphs on the NCC website here. When you're at the webpage, click on "Internet Subscriber Data (July 2012 - June 2013)". Visit using a JavaScript enabled browser.

What Are You Worth?

A professor was talking to his class about the lessons in life, when he took out a dollar note from his pocket and asked if anybody wants it. The entire class put up their hands eagerly without a moment's hesitation. He folded it once and asked again, and as expected everyone raised their hands once more.

The professor then folded the dollar note into a small square and asked, "does anyone still wants this dollar note?" The entire class was waving their hands in the air by now, clamoring to be the lucky recipient of the money.

He unfolded the note carefully, and crushed it tightly into a small ball. "How about this? Everybody still wants this lump of paper?" The students shouted, "yes! We still want it!"

The professor dropped the note on the floor and stomped on it with all his might, while the class watched on in silence. "How about now? You guys still want it?"

Before the class could react, a student shouted, "yeah I want it! It's still money!" The professor picked up the note and handed to the student. He turned back to the rest of the class to explain the moral of the lesson.

"Many times in life, you'd be crushed and stomped upon by others. Without a strong sense of self worth, you might end up feeling small and worthless like a lump of paper. But no matter what I did to the dollar bill, all of you recognized its worth as a dollar, so it retained its value even as I abused it to the core."

"Never depend on others to determine your value - know your own worth. No matter how much others try to crush you, you will always know what you are capable and worthy of. Just like the dollar bill, the outside appearance will never diminish your true value."