MTN will invest about N600 billion (R32 billion) in Nigeria’s network, Africa’s largest mobile phone operator announced on Sunday.
The investment will be made over the next three years.
The South African-based company said this investment will enable it to accelerate its 4G network expansion, deepen population coverage and support the Federal Government’s broadband initiative.
"We are excited about the possibilities that the transition to digital presents for our business, and the growth and development of Nigeria.”
Expanding 4G network coverage to deliver high-speed internet to more people nation-wide and data revenue growth remain in focus, said the company.
“We expect growth in voice revenue to remain healthy. We continue to make good progress with the expansion of our super-agent network and are confident that the expanded service offerings will position us to effectively drive broader financial inclusion as well as roll out the payment service bank seamlessly, once we receive a licence.”
In the third quarter, MTN Nigeria focused on several initiatives to enhance coverage and drive data usage penetration.
“These initiatives include optimising frequencies, expanding our 4G network coverage with over 6,000 additional sites leveraging 800MHz spectrum and repositioning our commercial data offerings,” said MTN Nigeria CEO, Ferdi Moolman.
MTN Nigeria’s 4G population coverage rose by 8.4 pp to 43.8%, giving people in 68 additional cities access to 4G.
“We closed the year with 132 cities covered by 4G and became the first mobile network operator in West Africa to demonstrate the capability of 5G technology,” said Moolman. “We are excited about its potential for our customers and Nigeria’s overall national development plans.”
“We maintained our leadership position in network net promoter score (NPS) as we continued to invest to improve service quality and drive 4G expansion.”