MTN Nigeria to Spend $1.5 Billion on CAPEX in 2009

MTN Nigeria is expecting to invest at least US$1.5 billion on its network during this year to boost its carrying capacity. Corporate Service Executive, MTN Nigeria, Mr. Wale Goodluck, told The Punch newspaper that the planned investment was a calculated effort by the company to improve on the quality of service on its network.

Speaking to the newspaper, he also noted that the mobile network has had to build a microwave backbone to cope with the lack of investment by the dominant landline telco for handling the voice traffic.

Goodluck said, "By sub-Sahara Africa's standard, we have achieved the highest network availability of over 90 per cent, investing in people to meet challenges."

Earlier this month, Nigeria's Minister of Information and Communications, Professor Dora Akunyili said that in spite of the much talked about telecommunications boom, the industry was still replete with recurring problems, including dropped calls, poor voice signal quality and lack of adequate interconnectivity.

She acknowledged though that the ministry was aware of the operational costs to service providers and the problem of vandalism of infrastructure.

According to figures from the Mobile World database, MTN ended last September with just over 20 million mobile phone subscribers - and a market share of 36%. The country itself has a population penetration level of 40%.

On the web: The Punch - Mobile World

Posted to the site on 26th January 2009