AS part of its 2013 targets, telecommunications
service provider, MTN said that it would
upgrade about 5,528 of its sites across the
country.
MTN, which claimed to have already
modernised and upgraded 4,615 sites,
explained that the new upgrading was aimed at
improving the various services it offered in the
country.
According to the Corporate Service Executive,
MTN Nigeria, Akinwale Goodluck, in an
interaction with journalists in Lagos, MTN also
planned to build 5000 2G and 4000 3G Base
Transceiver Stations (BTS) in the country.
Goodluck disclosed that despite investments in
various infrastructures by MTN and other
telecommunications service providers, they are
not enough to carry the present level of traffic.
He said that the various damages and
destructions to fibre cables, BTS and other
facilities recently across the country
compounded the challenge of improved quality
of service.
The MTN Executive said that about 13.1 billion
rand (around $1.5 billion) of the total MTN
Group’s Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) of 29
billion rand (over $3 billion) for this year would
be spent on network expansion for its Nigerian
market.
The group’s allocation to its Nigeria operation
for 2013 is the highest in all its over 20
countries of operations.
Goodluck, who recalled that $1.3 billion was
used as CAPEX for MTN Nigeria in 2012, said
that Nigeria was still favoured in the current
year with by taking the lion share of the group’s
total capital expenditure.
According to him, the current $1.5 billion was
directed at network expansion such as the
building more base stations and fibre
transmissions across the country.
He also said that the fresh
investment would allow the
over 45 million telecoms subscribers on MTN
Nigeria’s network to enjoy improved access
voice and data services with better coverage.
Goodluck informed that MTN Nigeria did not
only fully capitalise its $1.3 billion CAPEX for
2012 but also used the $300 million carryover
CAPEX for 2011 to embark on its soon-to-be-
completed network modernisation and swapping
exercise which began early last year.
Speaking on the firm’s data business in the
country, which according to leading network
infrastructure provider—Cisco would present
huge opportunities for service operators in
Nigeria and other African markets, Goodluck
said: “Looking at MTN Nigeria, we continue to
grow our voice network and also grow our data
business at 100 per cent rate yearly. The data
business is going to be a lot more significant
than voice.”
Confirming the readiness of the network for
Mobile Number Portability, Goodluck said that
the company was positioned to do well with
MNP whenever NCC gave the go ahead,
stressing that the process would give greater
freedom to subscribers .
(Guardian)
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