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By Chinenye Anuforo
Twenty-five years after making its first mobile call in Nigeria, MTN Nigeria is looking beyond voice and betting heavily on artificial intelligence (AI), financial technology (FinTech), digital platforms and next-generation connectivity to drive its growth over the next 25 years.
The telecoms giant, which now has about 96 million customers, has invested approximately N1.6 trillion in capital expenditure over the past 18 months as it expands its network to cope with the increasing demand for data and digital services.
It has also paid more than N620 billion in taxes and other payments during the period, according to the company’s Chief Financial Officer, Modupe Kadri at the sideline of its 25 years anniversary ceremony, Monday in Lagos.
The development marks a significant shift for MTN, whose Nigerian business was built largely around voice calls and SMS but is now being repositioned as a broader digital platform.
Kadri, reflecting on the company’s 25-year journey in Nigeria, said MTN had consistently remained at the forefront of technological development and had helped transform the way Nigerians communicate.
“The good thing is that MTN has brought that technology to Nigerians. Over the past 25 years, MTN has been leading the way,” he said.
From voice calls, the Nigerian telecommunications market has evolved to voice-over-data services, instant messaging, social media, mobile banking, streaming, remote work and a growing range of digital services.
MTN is now positioning itself to capture more value from this changing digital lifestyle.
The company’s strategy is to move beyond providing connectivity to offering and enabling services across financial technology, entertainment, AI, cloud and data services and other digital platforms.
FinTech is expected to be a major part of the strategy, given MTN’s huge customer base and nationwide distribution network.
Kadri said changes in the regulatory environment had opened up more opportunities for the growth of FinTech and other digital services.
“What our customers can look forward to in the FinTech space is greater use of artificial intelligence and other technologies to deliver more benefits to customers,” he said.
The strategy could transform the economics of the telecoms business by allowing MTN to generate revenue from more areas of customers’ digital lives rather than depending primarily on voice, SMS and data subscriptions.
Artificial intelligence is also becoming increasingly important to the company’s plans.
MTN is exploring the use of AI to understand customers better, improve segmentation and targeting, analyse customer behaviour and make its operations more efficient.
AI could also help the company determine where demand is rising and where network resources should be deployed, allowing it to anticipate congestion and improve capacity planning.
Kadri said the rapid pace of technological development made it difficult to predict what the industry would look like in another 25 years.
He, however, said companies must remain positioned within the evolving technology ecosystem to take advantage of emerging opportunities.
“Technology evolves very quickly, and it is driven by use cases. As human beings and as businesses, we continue to look for ways to drive efficiency, do things better, interact better and connect better,” he said.
Despite the growing focus on AI and digital services, MTN’s network remains the foundation of its strategy.
With about 96 million customers consuming increasing volumes of data, the company faces continuous pressure to expand capacity and maintain the quality of its services.
Customers now rely on mobile networks not only for calls but for streaming, social media, financial transactions, online businesses, remote work, entertainment and other data-intensive activities.
This has changed the nature of network investment.
MTN’s challenge is no longer simply to connect more subscribers, but to ensure that existing customers can simultaneously access increasingly demanding digital services without a deterioration in their experience.
Kadri said the company uses forecasting and other tools to anticipate future demand and identify areas where additional network capacity would be required.
The next phase of connectivity could place even greater demands on infrastructure as the industry looks beyond 5G towards newer technologies.
Fibre infrastructure will therefore remain critical to the company’s long-term ambitions.
The Federal Government’s proposed 90,000-kilometre fibre-optic network could provide a major boost to Nigeria’s digital infrastructure and create opportunities for telecom operators to expand high-speed connectivity beyond major urban centres.
MTN has indicated interest in participating in the broader expansion of connectivity.
The importance of the fibre project extends beyond faster internet access. Fibre infrastructure is expected to support cloud services, data centres, AI applications, enterprise networks and other digital businesses that will form part of Nigeria’s emerging digital economy.
Another challenge, however, is access to smartphones capable of supporting the country’s growing digital needs.
High-quality smartphones remain expensive for many Nigerians, limiting their ability to take full advantage of 4G, 5G and data-intensive applications.
MTN is therefore working with device manufacturers and original equipment manufacturers to make better devices available to more Nigerians without taking on the full risks associated with manufacturing or maintaining large inventories.
The strategy is also aimed at encouraging manufacturers to expand their reach beyond Nigeria’s major cities, where access to smartphones and digital services is generally stronger.
MTN’s digital strategy is not limited to connectivity and financial services.
The company is also expanding its presence in entertainment and content.
Its Chief Digital Officer, A’isha Mumuni, said the Next Afrobeats Star platform was moving into its second season, while MTN was also producing other family-friendly and educational content.
The initiatives reflect the company’s ambition to deepen its relationship with customers by offering more services through its digital ecosystem.
A customer who uses MTN for calls and data, while also accessing entertainment, financial services and other digital products, represents a broader opportunity for the company.
MTN does not necessarily need to own every service. Its advantage could come from providing the network, customer base, distribution channels and digital infrastructure that enable other services to reach millions of Nigerians.
The transformation comes at a challenging time for Nigeria’s telecommunications industry, with rising costs of equipment, energy and network operations putting pressure on operators.
Inflation has also increased operating costs, while consumers remain sensitive to prices despite their growing demand for data and better connectivity.
MTN’s response is to combine continued infrastructure investment with new digital revenue opportunities.
The company has already built scale as a telecommunications operator. Its next challenge is to convert that scale into a broader digital ecosystem.
Chief Customer Relations and Experience Officer of MTN Nigeria, Ugonwa Nwoye, said the company would continue to focus on technology and customer experience as it enters its next phase.
“Our job as MTN is to always be at the forefront of technology, to ensure that we are able at any point in time to provide our customers with the right levels of experience and stay true to our commitment to make their lives better,” Nwoye said.
As MTN marks 25 years in Nigeria, its strategy points to a significant change in the company’s understanding of its future.
Its first 25 years were largely about connecting Nigerians.
The next 25 years could be about building a wider digital ecosystem around that connectivity.
For MTN, the measure of success may increasingly move beyond the number of subscribers on its network to the volume of financial transactions, digital services, entertainment products and AI-enabled experiences taking place across its platform.
The network remains the foundation, but MTN’s biggest bet for the next 25 years is on everything Nigerians will do once they are connected.
