MTN Nigeria has grown its number of subscribers by 12% to a total of 25.9 million during the first quarter of 2009.

The MTN Group, which operates across Africa and the Middle East, increased its number of users by 7.5 million during the first quarter, boosting its total subscribers to 98.2 million.

The majority of MTNs new subscribers came from Nigeria and Iran, with the latter growing 14% for a total of 18.3 million users.

The group forecasted that it will add 22.6 million subscribers by the end of 2009.