Telecom
Nnamani Emerges New President of ATCON

Engineer Ikechukwu Nnamani, chief executive officer, Medallion Communications Limited, has emerged as the new National President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON).
Engr Nnamani emerged unopposed for the position during the Association’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) and National Executive Council Elections held in Lagos.
In his acceptance speech, Nnamani said he would focus attention on three core areas during his tenure.
These, he said, would include the provision of enabling environment for further growth of the telecom industry and pursuit of Telecom financing, strengthening the secretariat for more efficiency and financial sustainability of the Association.
Nnamani who was the first Vice President of the association during 2018/2020 administration, has a core vision of bridging the digital divide between nations and integrates technologies for practical solutions.
He further reiterated that his administration will focus on driving increased membership by making sure that members of the association are well representation in all levels especially in areas where they have challenges with government agencies, and the regulators.
He stated further ” It is easier when members come through the association to address issues affecting them than when they go alone because you suddenly notice you’re not the only one facing same challenge. When the regulator sees that more than one entity is facing same challenge, they take it more serious then when they feel it’s isolated to one company.
“The other area I intend to also pursue is telecom financing. A lot of our members have complained about challenges in accessing the right means of equity or even forex to those that requires importation of technical equipment and infrastructure. So, my administration will be engaging with the relevant government agency to put an end to such challenges,” he added.
Below are the new members of ATCON NEC 2020-2022
Ikechukwu Nnamani – President
Ibrahim Dikko – 1st Vice President.
Muyiwa Ogungboye – 2nd Vice President
Jane EgertonIdehen – National Secretary
Myke Ofili – Financial Secretary
Ezekiel Egboye – Treasurer
Wole Abu – Publicity Secretary
Aderonke Adeyegbe – Coordinator, Consulting
Wale Owoeye – Coordinator, Equipment Dealers
Dapo Akanbi – Coordinator, Value Added Service
Abayomi Adebanjo – Coordinator, Infrastructure Service Providers
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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