Largely on the second generation (2G) network, this has been championed by telecommunications firm, MTN Nigeria, whose investment in infrastructure, is put at over N3.9 trillion.
Specifically, the telecommunications firm said it has 2G population coverage of 92.3 per cent, followed by 3G reach of 83.6 per cent and 4G coverage of 79.1 per cent.
As of February 2023, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) put telephone density in the country at 119.01 per cent, where telecom operators have connected 325 million lines. Of the 325 million lines, 227 million are active.
Largely, MTN, in its 2022 audited financial report released at the weekend, acknowledged recording an impressive performance against the backdrop of a challenging macroeconomic environment.
It stressed that geopolitical events, headlined by the Russia-Ukraine war, stoked inflationary pressure due to disruption in the supply of food and energy products, saying this resulted in historic inflation rates in 2022 across advanced, emerging and frontier markets.
In the report, which showed that MTN is serving over 75 million customers in Nigeria, employed 1,682 employees and created value for over 138,200 shareholders, the firm has over 17,800 base stations; 16 switching centres; over 32,500 kilometres of fibre; over one million retail touch points and over 223,780 active mobile money agents in the over 21 years of its operations in the country.
The audited report put MTN’s contribution in taxes, levies and duties to the government to more than N4.2 trillion and dividend to shareholders at more than N2.8 trillion, while employing more than two million Nigerians directly and indirectly through trade partners and agents.
While telecom operators are owed about N100 billion by banks in deductibles accruable to telcos for offering Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), MTN said it facilitated over 12 billion transactions via the platform.
The telecoms company observed that 2022 was a significant year, as it earned N2 trillion revenue, stressing that it is the first Nigeria-listed establishment to achieve the feat.
The Chief Executive Officer, Karl Toriola, confirmed that MTN was able to weather the macroeconomic challenges, as it continued to invest in business and network resilience.
He said the firm expanded network coverage and capacity, focusing on efficiencies in “our expenses and remaining disciplined in our capital allocation.
In this regard, MTN Nigeria became the first mobile network operator to launch a 5G network in Nigeria. Since its commercial launch in September 2022, our 5G network has rolled out in major cities across the country’s six geopolitical zones, with 588 sites delivering service to 5G-enabled smart phones, starting with iPhone users. Overall, we made good progress in the execution of our Ambition 2025 strategy, enabling the delivery of strong commercial and financial performance.”
