Telecom
MTN’s 21 Days of Y’ello Care Investment Focuses on Education

MTN, leading information and communications Technology Company in Nigeria, has commenced its annual staff volunteerism programme, 21 Days of Y’ello Care, with this year’s edition focusing on education.
With the theme: ‘Education in the Digital World’, this year’s edition, which commenced on June 1, will have staff of MTN Nigeria engage in a number of activities aimed at promoting a conducive learning environment as well as draw attention to the fundamental role of education in the development of the nation.
Reiterating MTN Nigeria’s commitment to giving back to communities in which it operates at the flag-off of the programme in Lagos, Mr. Akinwale Goodluck, corporate services executive, described education as a vital tool for social and economic development.
“The weeks ahead are filled with various initiatives that will enable MTN, through the 21 Days of Yello Care programme, continue to contribute its quota towards improving educational standards in Nigeria. Under the Digitech Classroom Project, digitally equipped classrooms will be established across the country to drive access to digital learning.
“Access to the Internet and education will position a great number of pupils on the same platform as their counterparts in other developed countries, helping to ensure that they do not suffer learning disadvantages even though they live in a developing country,” he said.
Initiated by the MTN Group in 2007, the annual programme encourages MTN staff across its 21 operations in Africa, Asia and the Middle East to volunteer their resources, time and skills to help others and the communities where they live and work.
Also featuring among projects lined up for implementation is the company’s Adopt a Girls’ School Project, which will see each unit within MTN adopt an all-girls school towards empowering the girl child and promoting gender equality in education.
Other initiatives include Vocation is Education, which is aimed at elevating vocational education in Nigeria, and Y’ello Tutor, which entails the creation of an Online Learning Hub that will be made accessible to students in primary and secondary schools across the country, providing them access to learning materials, tutorials, examinations practice questions and other educational resources.
MTN will also be partnering with Non-Governmental Organisations to provide relief materials to the northern part of Nigeria where the learning infrastructure gap is most acute.
The initiative tagged, The Y’ello Aid Initiative, will also raise funds for the Chibok Scholarship which aims to move school girls from Chibok to schools in other states.
Also speaking at the ceremony, Engineer Olawunmi Gasper, executive secretary, Lagos State Technical and Vocational Education Board, lauded MTN for acknowledging the importance of education in a growing community.
“I am delighted to be part of MTN’s contribution to promoting education amongst our children. Education is very vital, and inculcating reading habits in children is the way to go. This programme is laudable as it also encourages vocational training and skill acquisition by our children. Gaining an education or learning a form of trade will definitely alleviate poverty within our communities as individuals will now be able to fend and provide for their needs with ease and convenience,” he said.
Also present at the ceremony were Mrs. Risikat Akiyode, permanent secretary, Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Lagos State, Director, Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Mrs. Toyin Onanuga; Programme Director, WIMBIZ, Ms. Morema Onabolu; MTN Ambassadors and Artistes, Banky W, HarrySong and Nikki Laoye; Chief Enterprise Solutions Officer, MTN Nigeria, Mr. Babatunde Osho; Human Resources Executive, MTN Nigeria Mrs. Amina Oyagbola, and other executives of MTN.
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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