Telecom
FG Targets MTN for Cash as Buhari Govt. Tightens Rules Ahead 2019 Elections- Expert
The many troubles of MTN group in Nigeria may both economic and political play the federal government of Nigeria, according to Ron Klipin, an analyst at Cratos Wealth in Johannesburg.
Klipin, was reacting as federal government has slammed MTN Nigeria with a $2 billion tax demand.
This is another curve ball directed at Africa’s biggest wireless carrier less than a week after it was ordered to refund $8.1 billion in illegally repatriated funds.
Klipin in a chat with Bloomberg said about the fines that “This could be an economic and political play by Nigeria”.
“The Nigerian economy is looking for additional sources of revenue and at the same time the government wants to be seen as tightening up the regulatory framework in the country.” Klipin added.
The additional scrutiny on MTN comes as President Muhammadu Buhari seeks re-election for a new four-year term in a February vote.
Buhari
His administration has pledged to fight corruption in Africa’s most populous nation, including tax avoiders and companies acting unscrupulously.
MTN continues to strenuously deny the allegations being made by the Central Bank of Nigeria and has provided further clarity on the company’s position.
MTN on its own said it had been in talks with Abubakar Malami, Attorney-General, over concerns around tax compliance; but it was billed all the same.
The company in a statement said it was billed for importation of foreign equipment and payments to foreign suppliers, all spread across a period of about ten years.
MTN outlined the tax dispute and refuted both accusations in a statement on Tuesday, yet faces an uphill battle to convince investors it won’t end up shelling out for either or both offenses in its largest market. The shares extended their slump, falling 17 percent to an almost 12-year low by the close in Johannesburg.
“We remain resolute that MTN Nigeria has not committed any offenses and will vigorously defend its position,” the Johannesburg-based company said.
The office of Nigeria’s attorney general calculated that MTN owes $2 billion related to the import of foreign equipment and payments to suppliers over the past decade.
It asked the South African company to carry out a self-assessment in response, but last week rejected the company’s findings, which concluded that it had owed — and paid — $700 million.
MTN reported the ongoing dispute for the first time Tuesday.
Last week, the Nigerian central bank told MTN to return funds it alleges the company illegally transferred out of the country over eight years through 2015.
That accusation put the carrier’s planned share sale in Lagos in jeopardy, while the sanctions may restrict its ability to pay dividends.
On the CBN allegations, MTN said that it is both regrettable and disconcerting that despite the historic engagements with the Nigerian authorities by MTN Nigeria, the senate investigation into the CCI matter, and the multiple tax assessments done by the Nigerian tax authorities over many years that were satisfactorily concluded, that these matters are being reopened.
Tobe Okigbo MTN Corporate Relations Executive said: “From the CBN’s own letter and subsequent statements, it is clear that there is no dispute that the capital captured in MTN’s books and for which CCIs were issued was imported into Nigeria, and this is acknowledged explicitly by the CBN.
It is equally clear that Nigerian law provides for guaranteed unconditional transferability of funds through an Authorised dealer in freely convertible currency relating to dividends or profits attributable to the investment, payments and in respect of loan servicing where a foreign loan has been obtained.”
He went on to say: “All dividend repatriation done by MTN Nigeria to its shareholders was done on the basis of its equity capital and all the historic dividends were declared against valid equity CCIs and in fact no preference dividends were declared and no interest in respect of these preference shares was paid. This means that it is incorrect to suggest that the conversion of a shareholder loan to preference shares has any relation to the repatriation of dividends. The two are simply not connected and we are trying to understand this position that the Central Bank has taken.”
Speaking on the Attorney General’s ‘demand notice’ for historical tax obligations, Mr Okigbo said: “MTN has conducted a detailed review of these claims, and provided evidence of tax remittance to the Attorney General’s office.
The Attorney General’s notice indicates that he is rejecting this evidence. We believe that all taxes due to the Nigerian government have been paid and these allegations have not been raised by any of the revenue generating agencies that MTN engages with regularly, and from whom MTN has received numerous awards for compliance.”
MTN Nigeria will continue to engage with the relevant authorities on all these matters and we remain resolute that MTN Nigeria has not committed any offences and will vigorously defend its position.
Update on the CBN letter on foreign exchange
MTN Group and the original shareholders injected a total of $402, 625,419 into MTN Nigeria between 2001 and 2006 in the form of loans and equity.
These initial inflows were the basis for the issuance of various legacy CCIs obtained from Authorized Dealers in accordance with regulations. The inflow of capital has been confirmed by the CBN.
The CCI process is essentially in place both for the protection of investors as well as to provide the CBN with documentary evidence for monitoring capital inflows and outflows. Although over time the CCIs have been re-issued, consolidated and re-constituted to reflect the changing MTN capital and shareholding structure, the amount of 402, 625,419, has remained the same.
One aspect of the changing capital structure was the conversion of shareholder loans to preference shares. It is important to note that all the historic dividends were declared against valid equity CCIs and in fact no preference dividends were declared and no interest in respect of these preference shares was paid.
The Attorney General’s notice of intention to recover tax
The Attorney General notified MTN that his office made a high-level calculation that MTN Nigeria should have paid approximately $2,0 billion in taxes relating to the importation of foreign equipment and payments to foreign suppliers over the last 10 years and he requested MTN Nigeria to do a self-assessment of the taxes in this regard that have been actually paid.
In August 2018 MTN submitted comprehensive documentation to the office of the AG. MTN Nigeria has also completed an initial assessment of the full period which indicates that total payments made to the tax authorities in regard to these foreign imports and payments in aggregate are $700 million.
There are valid reasons for the differences between the actual payments and the AG high-level assessment.
We were notified by the office of the AG last week that they have not accepted the documentation presented and they have given notice of an intention to recover the $2.0bn from MTN Nigeria.
Based on the detailed review performed MTN Nigeria believes it has fully settled all amounts owing under the taxes in question.
Localised, industrial-grade artificial intelligence (AI) data centre infrastructure will be delivered across Africa and the Global South, following a strategic alliance between sovereign AI infrastructure company Amini, electronics manufacturing giant Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn) and French digital firm Bull.
The three-way partnership aims to close the sovereign compute gap by allowing governments, telecommunications operators, financial institutions and energy companies to acquire and operate computing systems domestically.
Africa’s digital economy is projected to reach $1.5 trillion by 2030, which is driving regional demand for AI-enabled services across public administration, energy and finance, the parties say.
However, advanced cloud and AI processing capabilities have historically remained concentrated within a small number of external providers. The partnership seeks to establish locally anchored infrastructure, enabling domestic organisations to retain control over data and digital sovereignty.
Under the agreement, Amini will drive local market engagement and deployment, leveraging its existing platforms for locally anchored data capacity.
Foxconn will provide specialised hardware, server architecture and modular data centre technologies in its first dedicated infrastructure initiative focused on African markets.
Bull integrates its expertise in high-performance computing, quantum computing and emerging-market digital capacity. By operating independent systems, critical national sectors can bypass reliance on external platform architectures.
Financial entities can deploy independent credit, risk assessment and financial inclusion algorithms, while energy providers can implement localised machine learning for predictive maintenance and national grid optimisation.
“AI is becoming foundational infrastructure for every economy, yet most of the world still lacks the compute capacity required to participate on its own terms,” said Kate Kallot, founder and CEO of Amini. “This partnership ensures that Africa and the Global South can acquire, own and operate AI infrastructure locally, with sovereignty and long-term economic value at its core.”
Alexandre Jouys, chief commercial officer and head of Southern Europe, Middle East and Africa at Bull, added that Africa and more generally the Global South have the potential to emerge as a global-scale AI hub, by continuing to build regional computing capacity and supply chain independence.
The organizing committee of the 2026 Nigeria DigitalSENSE Forum (NDSF) on Internet Governance for Development (IG4D) is proud to announce Dr. Olusola Teniola as the Chairman for this year’s landmark event.
A seasoned leader with over 32 years of global experience in the telecommunications and technology sectors, Dr. Teniola brings a wealth of strategic expertise to the forum.
The Convener of NDSF and Group Executive Editor, ITREALMS Media group, Ogbuefi Remmy Nweke, welcomed the appointment, noting that Dr. Teniola’s leadership comes at a pivotal time for Nigeria’s digital economy.
Dr. Teniola currently serves as the Director of Strategic Business Initiatives at ipNX Nigeria, where he leads market expansion across West and Central Africa.
His recent contributions as a Digital Development Consultant to the World Bank Group for the May 2025 Country Private Sector Diagnostic report further underscore the high-level expertise he brings to the 2026 forum.
Dr. Teniola’s career is defined by high-impact leadership and infrastructure development:
- He previously served as COO for Oodua Infraco Resource Limited, overseeing the deployment of 870km of digital infrastructure in Southwest Nigeria.
- He is the past President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) and succeeded Dr. Ernest Ndukwe as the National Coordinator for the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4ai).
- His background includes executive roles at global giants such as British Telecom, Vodafone, Cisco Inc, and Alcatel-Lucent Technologies.
- He has been a vital contributor to the Nigerian Broadband Plan (2012-2013 and 2020-2025) and currently serves on the IPv6 Council.
Dr. Teniola holds a B.Eng (Hons) in Computer & Information Engineering from South Bank University, an MBA from the University of Bath School of Management, and an Honorary Doctorate (DBA) from Prowess University.
He is a Fellow of the MSME Institute of Management & Professional Studies and a member of the Chartered Institute of Directors (IoD) Nigeria.
Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says ongoing investments and regulatory interventions in the telecommunications sector are expected to address persistent quality of service challenges across the country.
NCC
In a statement signed by the Head of Public Affairs, Nnenna Ukoha, on Wednesday, the commission acknowledged public concerns over dropped calls, slow internet speeds, unstable data services and service disruptions affecting consumers.
The commission said telecommunications services had become central to work, education, business, access to essential services and social connectivity, adding that consumers deserved reliable services and value for money.
According to the NCC, improving quality of service has remained a major regulatory priority over the past two years.
It said the commission had intensified monitoring of Mobile Network Operators, Internet Service Providers and Tower Companies, while strengthening data-driven oversight and stakeholder engagement to address structural challenges affecting service delivery.
The commission disclosed that the sector was undergoing one of its largest network expansion and modernisation phases in recent years following a prolonged period of under-investment.
It said Mobile Network Operators invested more than N2.13 trillion in network infrastructure and upgrades in 2025, while Tower Companies invested an additional N373.8 billion.
According to the NCC, the investments supported the addition and upgrade of more than 2,800 telecommunications sites nationwide to improve network coverage and capacity.
The commission said interventions included deployment of additional 4G and 5G infrastructure, fibre backhaul expansion, targeted deployments in high-demand urban areas, expansion into underserved communities and equipment upgrades.
It added that operators had committed to adding or upgrading more than 12,000 sites in 2026, with nearly 3,000 already completed.
The NCC also said over 730 additional 5G sites had been deployed across 27 states in 2026.
The commission noted that 4G penetration rose from 45 per cent in January 2024 to 54 per cent currently, while national median download speeds improved from 16.5Mbps to 20Mbps within the same period.
It further said power availability at telecom towers improved from a national average of 99.3 per cent in January 2025 to 99.7 per cent.
According to the commission, spectrum reallocation among major operators and spectrum block rearrangements were also being implemented to improve network efficiency and service performance.
The NCC, however, acknowledged persistent external challenges affecting service quality, including vandalism, theft of telecom equipment, fibre cuts, power disruptions and access denial for maintenance.
It disclosed that more than 27,000 avoidable fibre-cut incidents linked mainly to road construction and vandalism were recorded in 2025.
The commission said it was collaborating with the Office of the National Security Adviser and other stakeholders to implement the Presidential Order on Critical National Information Infrastructure.
It added that operators had been mandated to notify consumers of major service outages promptly and restore services within specified timeframes.
The NCC said enforcement of the updated Quality of Service Regulations 2024 commenced in November 2025, including consumer compensation measures for poor service quality and additional investment obligations on Tower Companies.
It warned that regulatory action would continue against operators that fail to deliver measurable improvements.
The commission reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring affordable, reliable and high-quality telecommunications services for all Nigerians.
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