The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said that MTN and Airtel Communication service providers have increased their investment in infrastructure to N208 billion in the first quarter of the year.
Their investment, the regulatory agency said was in the in fourth-generation network and other capital expenditure, saying that MTN rolled out 2,260 4G sites in the first quarter of the year to boost penetration.
In MTN’s earnings report for the quarter ended March 31, 2022, the company said, “Capital expenditure in the period was up by 80.8 per cent off a lower base in Q1 2021 and aggressive coverage expansion to capture growth opportunities, focusing on the 4G network and rural telephony programme.
“We are also frontloading some of our capex plan for the year as part of risk mitigation on supply chain disruption.
NCC also noted that Internet services in the nation are currently predominantly run on 2G and 3G networks, but added that 4G coverage is available to about 37 per cent of the Nigerian population, with
download speeds still uncompetitive with nations in the same income bracket as Nigeria.
Core capex, excluding the right of use assets, increased by 156.8 per cent, with capex intensity of 17.2 per cent remaining within target levels.
