Telecom
MTN Threatens to Hike Tariff If…
MTN Group Ltd., Africa’s biggest phone operator, has threatened to hike its tariff if Nigeria’s government made its licence conditions more stringent as its licence expires in 2016.
Andrew Bing, chief financial officer of MTN Nigeria told Bloomberg that “Tougher rules, tougher regulations, greater demands ultimately will impact price, the more you charge up front or the more you demand over a period of time. Well, somebody has to pay for it. Ultimately, the subscribers are the people who will have to pay.”
“It’s bigger than the power sector combined; it’s bigger than the cement industry, but they get away with everything,” said Bing, 49, who will go on sabbatical leave from the company at the end of this month. “Yet everybody wants a piece of us.”
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had in February fined the three biggest mobile operators, including MTN, for the quality of their service and prohibited them from selling new SIM cards in March, the first time the punishment was imposed along with a financial penalty.
Omobola Johnson, communication technology minister, had said in a February interview that Nigeria would probably revalue the Johannesburg-based company’s phone spectrum and would push to have improving service and infrastructure written into the contracts,
With a population of about 170 million, Nigeria had 167 million mobile-phone subscriptions as of
February 2013, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission and with many subscribers owning more than one phone, it is estimated that user numbers will probably grow to more than 200 million in 2017, according to a London-based research company, Informal Telecoms & Media.
Michael Ikpoki, CEO, MTN Nigeria said that prices of MTN’s services have come down in the past three years in Nigeria, adding that the company had spent about $5 billion to $6 billion in expanding capacity in the past three years.
Nigeria’s regulators have to allow phone companies to make “decent margins” or it will negatively affect investment, said Ikpoki.
“We are already operating under fairly stringent conditions,” Ikpoki said. “I don’t know what can be tougher than this.”
MTN has fallen 1.9 per cent this year in Johannesburg and closed Monday at 212.85 rand, giving it a market value of 398.7 billion rand ($37.9 billion).
The company struggles with power supply and cuts to its fiber-optic network, making it a challenge to meet the regulators’ standards.
Hundreds of cuts are made a week to MTN’s cables in the country due to negligence as roads are constructed or dug up, as well as malicious damage, said Bing.
Last year, MTN spent about N34 billion ($214 million) on diesel to power its base stations across the country due to a lack of regular electricity in Nigeria, said Ikpoki.
The government of President Goodluck Jonathan sold 15 state-owned power generation and distribution companies last year and is spending $3.5 billion to boost transmission capacity this year by 50 percent from 4,000 megawatts, less than a 10th of South Africa’s full capacity.
“We are very concerned and very keen to see that the whole power privatisation actually succeeds because it’s going to be really, really good for our business,” Ikpoki said.
MTN is looking to grow revenue from data as the use of smartphones, tablets and TV’s increases in Africa’s most populous nation to offset a slowdown in the growth in subscription numbers.
While users in Nigeria, MTN’s biggest market, rose only “marginally” to 57.2 million in the quarter ended March 31, data revenue in local currency rose 21 per cent. At the end of last year, 15 per cent of MTN Nigeria’s revenue came from data, said Ikpoki.
“Voice is getting cheaper and people are now using more data,” said Bing. “Will it ever overtake? It probably will, but it’s going to be a long way, because a lot of people in this country still haven’t made a phone call.”
In the wake of increasing geopolitical tension, Cassava Technologies has unveiled its National Sovereign Cloud offering for African governments.
The solution, the company claims, will help the continent’s governments ensure data is kept on infrastructure that remains under local legal and operational jurisdiction.
According to the official announcement, made yesterday, the solution provides “secure, locally-governed digital infrastructure that enables the deployment of AI-enabled public services”.
The overarching solution encompasses cloud, cyber security, AI computing infrastructure, as well as local language AI models and skills support for governments.
The announcement comes amid increasing uncertainty over the hosting of sensitive national data on cloud services operated by foreign hyperscalers, which are subject to legal frameworks, such as the U.S. CLOUD Act. The CLOUD Act opens the door to allow American authorities to access data stored on the servers of US hyperscalers, wherever those servers are physically located.
Cassava has claimed separately that currently, “approximately 33% to 45% of the world’s data is hosted in the USA”.
The company added: “A sovereign cloud reduces exposure to extraterritorial laws, improves cyber resilience, and ensures that model weights and training data for public AI remain under national custody.”
The Africa Data Centres Association’s 2026 Economic Report states that “data sovereignty has evolved from a legal aspiration into a strategic policy lever”.
Ahmed El Beheiry, Group COO and Group Chief Technology and AI Officer, Cassava Technologies said: “Across Africa, governments are accelerating their digital transformation agendas and are increasingly focused on ensuring that data and digital infrastructure remain secure and sovereign.”
Announced at the Mobile Word Congress in Barcelona, this week, the Sovereign Cloud offering launch accompanied the launch of Cassava’s Cloud Partner programme.
The partner programme targets mobile network operators and system integrators across Africa to resell and distribute AI, cloud, and other digital services using Cassava’s infrastructure and technology platforms.
El Beheiry added: “We are expanding Africa’s sovereign AI ecosystem to build solutions that address the continent’s unique challenges while creating new opportunities for growth and digital inclusion.”
The programme offers partners access to NVIDIA Cloud Partner solutions, Cassava’s AI Factory, its own native AI solutions and its AI Multi-Model Exchange, which supports both Anthropic’s Claude and Google’s Gemini models.
Mazen Mroue, a non-executive director at MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, has resigned effective February 27, 2026, to prioritise other responsibilities within the MTN Group, the company announced in a Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) filing.
MTN Nigeria
The notice, signed by company secretary Uto Ukpanah, stated: “This is to enable Mr. Mroue to focus on other priorities within MTN Group Limited. The Board wishes to express its appreciation to Mr. Mroue for his immense service to MTN Nigeria and wishes him success in his future endeavours.”
Mroue joined MTN Nigeria’s board on June 1, 2022, bringing over 28 years of telecom experience. A veteran MTN executive, he previously served as CEO of MTN Uganda and MTN Liberia, non-executive director at MTN Cyprus, and held leadership roles at MTN Ghana.
Since February 2022, he has been MTN Group’s Chief Technology and Information Officer, overseeing technology strategy and governance. Earlier, as MTN Nigeria’s COO from August 2018 to January 2022, he also sat on the MTN Nigeria Foundation board.
The exit follows MTN Nigeria’s stellar 2025 results, posting a ₦1.70 trillion profit before tax—reversing a ₦550.3 billion loss in 2024 driven by forex woes—marking one of the telco’s strongest rebounds.
Google has rolled out support for Yorùbá and Hausa languages in its AI-powered Search features—AI Overviews and AI Mode—enabling millions of Nigerians to get quick answers, summaries, and conversational web exploration in their mother tongues.
The update forms part of Google’s push to cover 13 African languages, including Afrikaans, Akan, Amharic, Kinyarwanda, Afaan Oromoo, Somali, Sesotho, Kiswahili, Setswana, Wolof, and isiZulu, selected based on high search activity across the continent.
Now, a Kano student can ask complex questions in Hausa, while an Ibadan trader seeks business tips in Yorùbá—both receiving culturally nuanced AI responses via text or voice on Android, iOS, or web.
Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, Google’s West Africa Communications Manager, said: “Building truly global Search requires nuanced local understanding. With Gemini-powered AI, we’ve made advanced capabilities relevant in Yorùbá and Hausa, so Nigerians converse naturally with Search in their mother tongues.”
To use: Open the Google app, tap AI Mode, and query in Hausa or Yorùbá for personalised guidance—breaking language barriers and making technology reflect Nigeria’s diverse identity.
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