MTN Nigeria Communications held its 20th anniversary celebration on Sunday, in Lagos, saying it will invest more than N600bn in network infrastructure.
The Chairman of MTN Nigeria Communications, Dr Ernest Ndukwe, revealed during the anniversary celebration held on Sunday, Aug. 22 in Lagos.
MTN Nigeria had launched its services on Aug. 8, 2001, connecting about 69 million people in communities across the country to date.
“We plan to connect approximately 1000 rural communities to our network this year with an additional 2000 communities in 2022,”Ndukwe said.
The chairman expressed optimism about what the future holds for Nigeria’s digital economy and looked forward to building it together with all stakeholders.
Also speaking at the event, Chief Executive Officer of the company, Karl Toriola, restated MTN’s planned participation in the restoration and rehabilitation of the Onitsha-Enugu Expressway through the Federal Government’s Road Infrastructure Tax Credit ((RITC) Scheme.
This is a response to government’s drive towards public-private partnership in the rehabilitation of critical road infrastructure in Nigeria, Toriola said
“We’ve initiated plans for the construction of a purpose-built, state-of-the-art head office in Lagos.
“We will also be selling down 14 per cent of MTN shares to over two million Nigerian retail investors,” Toriola said.
He expressed appreciation to the government for its vision in liberalising the telecommunications sector and the robust framework developed by the regulators.
“We firmly believe that Nigeria’s digital journey is only just beginning and that the future is filled with promises.
“Working together, we can and will build the more prosperous and inclusive future we seek and empower even more Nigerian to do greater things,” the MTN chief executive said.
MTN Nigeria currently provides services in 223 cities and towns, in more than 10,000 villages and communities, in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
As part of the 20th anniversary celebration, MTN awarded twenty customers with brand new cars at the event.