MTN Nigeria Ramps Up Infrastructure Spending to Power MVNO Growth

AFRICAN STOCKS AND FINANCEAugust 3, 2025 at 9:58 PM UTC

TLDR

MTN Nigeria is pivoting toward a new growth model—turning its network into a shared platform for other operators
Capital expenditure surged 288.4% year-on-year to ₦565.7 billion ($377.1 million) as the telecom giant doubled down on 4G rollouts, fibre expansion, and passive infrastructure development
The strategy enables mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) and other mobile network operators (MNOs) to lease capacity on MTN’s extensive infrastructure

MTN Nigeria is pivoting toward a new growth model—turning its network into a shared platform for other operators—by significantly ramping up infrastructure investments in the first half of 2025. Capital expenditure surged 288.4% year-on-year to ₦565.7 billion ($377.1 million) as the telecom giant doubled down on 4G rollouts, fibre expansion, and passive infrastructure development.

The strategy enables mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) and other mobile network operators (MNOs) to lease capacity on MTN’s extensive infrastructure—including 24,300 tower sites and a growing fibre network—without building their physical networks. This approach positions MTN as a wholesale enabler, earning from its competitors while bypassing the costs of subscriber acquisition.

The company has begun onboarding MVNOs in alignment with the Nigerian Communications Commission’s inclusion agenda, with London-based Lebara expected to launch services on MTN’s network in Q3 2025.

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Key Takeaways

MTN Nigeria’s aggressive infrastructure investment marks a strategic transition from pure retail telecom to a network-as-a-service business model. By opening its infrastructure to MVNOs and other service providers, MTN taps into a new revenue stream that is capital-efficient, recurring, and scalable. The model expands utilisation of MTN’s high-cost assets without adding retail overhead. It also aligns with the global telecom trend of infrastructure sharing and open-access networks, reducing duplication and accelerating broadband inclusion. For MVNOs, the model offers a fast-track entry into Nigeria’s growing telecom market—estimated at over 200 million users—while focusing on niche services, underserved communities, and vertical solutions. For MTN shareholders, the bet is already paying off. H1 results show record profitability, rising margins, and positive free cash flow, even as capex surged. With capex set to normalize in H2 2025, MTN is positioned to sustain earnings growth while scaling its wholesale platform. This evolution could make MTN Nigeria not just a dominant operator, but the core digital infrastructure provider in the country’s telecom future.

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