MTN Nigeria has expanded its 4G network coverage to reach 81.5 per cent of the population from 79.1 per cent recorded in December 2022.
The country’s biggest telecoms firm disclosed in its 2023 audited financial statement, released recently.
This means 81.5 per cent of the country’s regions, people, including MTN subscribers and others, can access 4G connectivity provided by MTN.The company emphasised its commitment to advancing connectivity with a substantial investment in network coverage and capacity.
MTN declared that the 4G network played a pivotal role as a key driver in enhancing data services, facilitating a surge in smartphone penetration.
The penetration rate rose to 55.6 per cent, a 3.1 percentage point year-on-year increase.
“Our 4G network now covers 81.5 per cent of the population, up from 79.1 per cent in December 2022, and 5G at 11.3 per cent. On the back of these initiatives, smartphone penetration rose to 55.6 per cent (up 3.1pp YoY), underpinning data usage (GB per user) growth of 29.1 per cent to 8.6GB.
“As a result, we recorded a 44.9 per cent growth in data traffic, with the 4G network accounting for 81.8 per cent of the total traffic (up 0.6pp YoY) and 5G at 5.2 per cent,” the company noted in the report.
The telecom company said it boosted home broadband penetration to meet the growing demands of digital adoption.
In 2023, MTN successfully added over 800,000 subscribers to its home broadband services, surpassing the 2 million subscriber milestone.
“We expanded home broadband penetration to support the growing use cases for digital adoption, leveraging our 5G fixed wireless access devices, mobile broadband solutions, and fibre-to-the-home connectivity.
“We added over 800,000 subscribers in 2023, bringing our home broadband subscribers to over 2 million. Our infrastructural strength, technology mix, and partnerships position us to capture a significant share of market opportunities,” the telco stated.
In 2016, MTN Nigeria won the frequency spectrum license for the 2.6GHz band as the sole bidder in the auction exercise by the Nigerian Communications Commission.
MTN was given a 10-year license at N18.96bn to deliver global mobile broadband and LTE 4G services to over 60 million customers.
The operator currently has over 77 million subscribers.