Telecom
MTN to Spend $1.5m on Broadband Expansion

MTN, communication giant, is to spend $1.5 million (N640million) on broadband access in Nigeria in the next couple of year.
Mr Karl Toriola, CEO of MTN Nigeria, disclosed this plan when Nigeria embassy official visited MTN Group office in Roodeport, Johannesburg.
He said this was in line with the Federal Government’s 2020-2025 National Broadband Plan and in support of MTN Group’s strategy.
Amb. Muhammad Manta, Nigerian High Commissioner to South Africa and Malik Abdul, Consul General led a delegation to the MTN group.
Toriola said that a new state-of-the-art headquarters would be erected soon in Nigeria.
He also disclosed that the MTN would reconstruct the Enugu-Onitsha expressway in lieu of tax remittance to the Federal Government, in a special arrangement to enhance the quality of road infrastructure in the country.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that MTN Group sold off parts of its shares in the Nigerian subsidiary in February with the aim of availing local investors the opportunity to become shareholders in the leading telecom giant.
Eventually, a total of 661.25 million MTN Nigerian shares were allocated, as against the 575 million units that were initially planned.
Mr Ernest Ndukwe, chairman MTN Nigeria, underscored the importance of MTN Nigeria to the group’s operations, noting that Nigeria is one of their most important markets.
He expressed satisfaction that the government was implementing several policies and programmes to ensure a conducive environment for doing business in Nigeria.
Ndukwe added that government has emphasized the development of Nigeria’s digital economy to be the next fastest growing sector.
In response, High commissioner Manta lauded the group for their interest in Nigeria and promised that Nigeria would ensure that conducive environment is created for the likes of MTN to thrive in Nigeria.
The Consul General called on MTN to partner with the Missions in South Africa to develop a coherent strategy to tackle future threats of Xenophobia.
“We have identified projects in respect of community engagement to rebuild trust and confidence in one another and to retell the story of the Nigeria and South Africa relations.”
Abdul urged MTN to partner with the Mission to create programmes and contents that would promote peace, social cohesion and deepen socio economic development between the two countries.
He encouraged them to engage with the government to find a lasting solution to the unnecessary attacks on Nigerians.
“Nigerians are not Xenophobic but the tales of victims and the videos of incidence in South Africa instigates attacks on SA Companies in Nigeria.”
Telecom
PAT Taps Osi as CEO

Pan African Towers (PAT), a Nigerian infrastructure provider serving 9mobile and Spectranet, has appointed Echezona Osi as chief executive officer.

Echezona Osi
Adefolarin Ogunsanya, company’s, board chairman, explained in a statement that Osi would succeed Oladipo Badru, whose tenure lasted nine months in acting CEO position. Osi has more than 28 years of experience in the telecommunications sector across various regions of Africa.
Prior to his appointment as CEO, he had served as the head of network deployment at Airtel Nigeria, operations director and chief technical information officer at MIC Tanzania, chief technology officer roles at IPT PowerTech Nigeria, Rhino Niger Networks and Biswal Nigeria.
He obtained a degree in electrical/ electronic engineering from the University of Benin and a postgraduate diploma in data science and business analytics from the University of Texas.
Telecom
NCC Introduces N10m Licence Fee for Bulk SMS Service

Companies sending bulk international text messages, also known as Application-to-Person (A2P) messages, will now have apply for a licence that costs N10 million.
This is part of new rules introduced by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) aimed at cleaning up the system, fighting fraud, blocking spam messages and stopping money from leaving the country unchecked.
These A2P messages are the kind customers get from banks, online stores, hospitals and political campaigns, automated texts sent from apps to their phones.
According to the commission, the bulk international text message system has been poorly regulated, allowing misuse and invasion of privacy.
“The International SMS Service Ecosystem in Nigeria has not been fully brought under regulatory control. It has been observed that the excessive use of the Short Message Service has led to fraud, spam and illegal activities,” the NCC said.
The regulator warned that without action, the problem would worsen as more people use mobile phones and digital services.
To solve this, the NCC is creating a central platform, or gateway, through which all international bulk text messages must pass through.
The agency said this would help to monitor messages in real time, ensure proper fees are paid, and make sure the money stays in Nigeria where it can contribute to the economy.
As part of the incoming change, service providers must follow strict rules, including strong data protection, spam filters, and message encryption.
Also, they must also work with local mobile networks and make sure all messages come from a verified sender
The NCC warned that any message without a proper sender ID will be blocked and not delivered to users.
To protect users from unwanted texts, the new rules say companies must get clear permission before sending any promotional content.
The rule also says people must also be able to choose whether they want to receive such messages or not.
Companies are now required to keep records of all messages for at least six months and must clearly state all charges involved.
The NCC said fees for help requests, cancellations, or service info must be transparent and not include hidden charges.
The commission will issue licences to several providers to encourage healthy competition but may limit new licences if needed.
Only companies that show they can stop fraud and safely deliver messages will be allowed to operate. They must also regularly report their message traffic and finances to the NCC.
It warned that any company that breaks the rules risks getting fined, suspended, or having its licence revoked.
Offences like charging illegal tariffs, ignoring security rules, or avoiding taxes will be punished, the NCC said.
The commission added that the new rules follow the Nigerian Data Protection Act 2023 and support the federal government’s goal of strengthening cybersecurity and controlling Nigeria’s digital space.
The framework will also be reviewed from time to time to keep up with new technology and market trends.
Telecom
MTN Nigeria Targets $1Bn Cloud Market with Largest Modular Data Centre

MTN Nigeria has launched what it claims is the country’s largest prefabricated modular data centre, marking a bold push into the country’s fast-growing cloud market and taking aim at global giants such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

Karl Toriola, CEO, MTN Nigeria.
The shift comes as demand for cloud services in Nigeria soars — driven by the uptake of mobile apps, fintech tools and e-learning platforms — while foreign providers have become costlier in the wake of the naira’s sharp devaluation.
“This is one of the biggest data centres in West Africa and probably one of the biggest in Africa,” said Karl Toriola, CEO, MTN Nigeria.
He described the new Tier III-certified facility, with locally hosted cloud services, as “transformative for the technology ecosystem in Nigeria and very supportive of the federal government’s agenda”.
MTN Nigeria, the country’s largest telecoms provider, has so far invested $120m in the first phase, delivering an IT load of 4.5MW. A second phase, set to double capacity to 9MW, is budgeted at $135m.
“We already have data centres that are running our existing capacities,” Toriola said.
“We will go to 9MW in short order, possibly 14MW, and we can expand even further.”
He said the facility would allow local hosting for tech developers, large enterprises including banks and oil companies, and government agencies — markets long dominated by foreign cloud providers.
“Multinational companies such as Netflix, Facebook and Instagram can also host a lot of their data here. That improves the quality of service and reduces the cost of storage,” he added.
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