There seems to be more gimmick than reality in the now collapsed exit speculations when some activities and network performance of the telecoms giant, MTN Nigeria are put on the table for a critical review.
First, whereas many were thinking that MTN will exit the largest economy with the dream market in Africa, the network was quietly maintaining its stand in not committing any crime in transferring $13.9bn, following the agreed payment plan for the slashed NCC’s fine and most importantly, deploying massive base transceiver Stations which has hit 3,632 across the nation.
This figure is in addition to existing thousands before the year under review.
Statistics gathered from the network revealed that in 2016, MTN rolled out 1,799 3G sites and 1,833 Long Term Evolution (LTE) sites.
In communications parlance, BTS can best be described as high rise mast fixed with elements and related equipment that backs up wireless communication between user equipment (UE) and a network. UEs are devices like mobile phones (handsets), WLL phones, and computers with wireless Internet connectivity. The deployment by operators is to improve service delivery in the region. The more the BTS, the better the quality of service offered.
With the added 3,632 coming from MTN last year and about 2,000 from other networks plus over 10,000 managed by BTS service providers, Nigeria may be going closer to half of the target 80,000 BTS needed by the country to meet the demands of about 150 million active subscribers. Prior to the new 3632 sites, the sector has about 29, 000 BTS.
Additional details sited from MTN’s consolidated financial results for the year ended December 31, 2016, released last week, showed that it is right on track in hitting the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) as soon as possible.
Explaining issues before the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC during a recent courtesy visit, the leader of the delegation passed a vote of confidence on the economy, thus resting all the exit speculations.
Another angle that will continue to encourage MTN to deepen investment in Nigeria is the towering subscribers’ base both in voice and data which it has not only sustained but expanded within the period under review.
The network moved over 1.2 per cent to 62 million, pushed market share to 48 per cent from 44.8 per cent.
The feat seemed to have been recorded following the reconnection of previously disconnected subscribers as well as the aggressive drive to secure new connections with the MTN StartPack tariff plan.
Since this year, the network’s data services have remained the most sought for due to its network strength and Quality of Service (QoS).
