By Chinenye Anuforo, Lagos
MTN Nigeria Communications Plc and TD Africa have partnered to quicken the pace of broadband rollout in Nigeria.
Both partners co-sponsored an event where channel partners are drawn from TD Africa’s extensive database, as well as other attendees, were given an opportunity to gain a comprehensive understanding of MTN’s fixed broadband propositions.
The session, which was held at Yudala Heights, Victoria Island, Lagos, is in line with MTN Nigeria’s dedication to creating shared values aimed at positively impacting Nigerian businesses through mutually beneficial partnerships targeted at accelerating broadband penetration in Nigeria. Representatives of MTN Nigeria hosted a discussion on the propositions under the MTN Home broadband umbrella, whilst assuring the distributors of the various opportunities that are available to them as MTN partners.
Speaking at the event, General Manager, Fixed Broadband MTN Nigeria, Onyinye Ikenna-Emeka, said “As we all know, data is the new oil. Our key role as operators and players in the industry is to ensure that we are effectively positioned to assist the Federal Government to achieve the ambitious goal of 70% broadband penetration by 2025. The only way to efficiently achieve this objective is through continued collaboration among all the ecosystem players. For us at MTN, we believe very strongly in the fact that everyone deserves a modern connected life and we are continuously finding ways to make the customer’s life brighter. This means our broadband services are second to none and there is value for not just our customers, but our partners as well.”
Highlighting the enormous opportunities that ICT offers, Coordinating Managing Director (CMD), TD Africa, Chioma Chimere, said: “You look at today’s world where it appears things are not working as well as they should, but if you look deeply, you would find that embedded in all of those seeming low lights, there are lots of opportunities. And if you are lucky like we are privileged to be in the ICT sector, you would find that our own opportunities are even larger because we are in an industry that is evolving, moving up every day.”
The forum, hosted by TD Africa, was a platform for MTN Nigeria Communications PLC to outline the process of becoming a partner of the leading technology company, as part of efforts to drive broadband penetration in Nigeria and make home broadband more accessible to Nigerians.
In October 2019, the Federal Government inaugurated a committee to draft the 2020-2025 National Broadband Plan in a bid to strengthen efforts to diversify the Nigerian economy. The plan seeks to deliver a penetration rate of 70 per cent by 2025 with effective coverage available to at least 90 per cent of the population by 2025. According to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), broadband penetration stood at 44.5% in July 2022, a figure considered hopeful for achieving the national broadband target of 70% in 2025.
MTN Fixed Broadband services which also include solutions running on its recently launched 5G services are tailored to support the broadband plan of the government, which necessitated the recent 60 per cent slash in the price of the company’s broadband routers.