Justice Ayokunle Faji of the Federal High Court in Lagos has upheld the penalties and interest amounting to $87.9 million imposed on MTN Nigeria Communication Plc by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

The court gave the verdict while delivering judgment in an appeal filed by FIRS against the Tax Appeal Tribunal’s (TAT) decision of October 20, 2023.

Recall that the Tax Appeal Tribunal had awarded a principal sum of $71 million on MTN but did not grant the penalties and interest that FIRS had requested.

But dissatisfied with the TAT’s ruling, FIRS had approached the Federal High Court in an appeal marked FHC/L/1A/2024, urging the court to set aside the decision of the Tax Appeal Tribunal.

FIRS specifically prayed the court for an order setting aside the decision of TAT and an order directing the Appellant to pursue all penalties and interest arising from the principal sum awarded by the Tribunal in its judgment dated October 20, 2023.

In its brief of argument, FIRS posed two key issues for determination before the court, asking whether the Tribunal was correct in refusing to grant the Appellant the accumulating penalties and interest after determining that the goods and services purchased by the Respondent were subject to value-added taxes.

The tax agency also asked the court to determine whether the Tribunal was right to apply the provisions of the Company Income Tax Act (CITA) to address assessments related to the penalties and interest arising from the operations of the Value Added Tax Act,

In response, MTN raised one main issue for determination on whether the Tribunal erred in law by setting aside the penalties and interest imposed by the FIRS on the Respondent’s principal value-added tax liability.

MTN also contended that the Tribunal correctly dismissed the penalties and interest imposed on its alleged principal VAT liability and that the Tribunal accurately interpreted Sections 13(2) and (3) of the 5th Schedule to the FIRS Act.

They further asserted that the Appellant’s arguments regarding the applicability of these sections do not align with the Notice of Appeal and are, therefore, ineffective.

In his judgment, Justice Faji resolved all the issues canvassed by the parties against MTN Nigeria Communication Plc.

He held, “The decision of the TAT contained from page 750 of the record to the effect that interest and penalty are not due to be paid by the respondent to the appellant is hereby set aside.

“This appeal, therefore, succeeds. I grant the three reliefs sought, as prayed,” the judge held.

The total number of mobile subscriptions on Nigeria’s 5G network grew to 4.05 million in December 2024, two years after MTN Nigeria first launched the network.

This is as the total number of mobile subscriptions recovered to 164.65 million after a Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) audit crashed subscriptions to 154.63 million in September 2024.

The audit removed 64.37 million lines from the national subscription base between March and September, and while some of these lines were lost due to the completion of the Subscriber Identification Modules (SIMs) and the National Identification Number (NIN) linkage exercise, most stopped existing because Globacom over-reported its subscriber base by as much as 40 million.

A breakdown of the 164.65 million subscriber base revealed that MTN now has a subscriber base of 84.61 million, Airtel has 56.62 million, 9mobile has 3.28 million, and Glo has recovered to 20.14 million. Most of these connections (47.20 percent) are on 4G network, with those on 5G network only comprising 2.46 percent of the total.

MTN Nigeria and Mafab Nigeria Communications Limited’s 2021 victory at the auction for two available lots of 100 MHz TDD slots of 3.5 GHz band ushered in 5G in Nigeria, with Airtel getting its license in 2022.

The network is meant to usher in faster internet speed in a country where internet consumption has been on a steady climb. Nigeria’s internet consumption rose to an all-time high of 973,455.35 terabytes in December 2024.

According to Karl Toriola, CEO, MTNN, “5G will change everything. It will allow us to connect, create, collaborate, and compete in ways we cannot imagine yet.”

GSMA, the global body for telcos, noted that growing 5G adoption will contribute $10 billion to Nigeria and other Sub-Saharan African countries’ economies by 2030, accounting for six percent of mobile’s total economic impact.

South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya are expected to account for more than half of all 5G connections in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2030. About 30 cities now have 5G, says the NCC.

“Nigeria is still grappling with 5G. I can say that the network is still in less than 30 cities in the country. So, we still have a long way to go. But we have strategies to deploy the service in Nigeria. 4G LTE has not even covered the entire country,” said Ubale Maska, executive commissioner of Technical Standard, NCC.

Bosun Tijani, minister of Communications, Innovations, and Digital Economy, highlighted that the lack of proper infrastructure has slowed 5G growth. “The infrastructure that drives 5G is not something that is across the nation,” he said.

Despite its many promises, 5G is not expected to become the dominant network in Nigeria anytime soon. Up until 2029, 4G is expected to account for the largest portion of mobile subscriptions in the country and across Africa.

“In the pursuit of modernisation and enhanced connectivity, subscribers are constantly migrating toward 4G networks. This trajectory indicates that 4G will be the primary driver for new subscriptions up to the year 2028,” Ericsson said in its latest mobility report.

Globacom on Thursday in Ibadan, Oyo State, conducted another draw to select the new set of winners in its on-going Festival of Joy promo

The draw which had in attendance the media and large number of walk-in customers who excitedly drew the winning numbers was held at the Challenge office of the telecommunications company.

“The winners who emerged from the draw will receive their prizes, including two brand new Kia Picanto cars, sewing machines, generators and grinding machines at a presentation ceremony to be held at Gloworld, Ring Road branch, on Monday, February 3”, Globacom explained.

The company urged customers who wish to join the promo to dial *611# and keep recharging (voice and data during the promo period) in order to be eligible to win the prizes on offer, while new subscribers can participate immediately by purchasing a new SIM, registering it and dialing *611#.

It added that, “Customers are required to recharge up to N100, 000 cumulatively during the promo period to qualify for the draw for the Prado Jeep, N50, 000 cumulative recharge for Kia Picanto, N10, 000 in a month for tricycle and N5, 000 total recharge in a month to win a generator. For the sewing machine, a total recharge of N2, 500 in a month is required, while for the grinding machine, a recharge of N1000 in a week will be eligible for the draw”,