As competition spices up in Nigeria, Africa’s most lucrative African telecommunication market, MTN Nigeria which has the largest subscriber base in the country has secured a $3 billion (about N470billion) loan facility from a consortium of local and international financial institutions to upgrade its network.


Signed in Lagos on Tuesday, the 7-year loan facility will be used to expand, modernise and improve its network infrastructure. According to MTN, the loan consists $1.8 billion in additional facilities and $ 1.2 billion in restructuring of existing local facility.

The consortium of banks include Zenith Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Access Bank Plc and Fidelity Bank Plc. All of whom contributed N55 billion ($5.9 billion), N40 billion ($4.3 billion), N40billion ($4.3 billion), N35 billion ($3.8 billion) and N26.25 billion ($2.8 billion) respectively.

Other lenders include: South Africa’s Nedbank and FirstRand, German state bank KfW, Citigroup, Standard Chartered Plc, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Development Bank and China Construction Bank.

MTN Chief Executive Officer, Brett Goschen, said the signing of the loan deal marked another strategic collaboration between the telecoms service provider and financial institutions to deepen telecommunications services in Nigeria.

He praised the participating financial institutions for passing a vote of confidence on MTN. According to him, the move signifies the strength of Nigerian financial institutions and their ability to stimulate significant economic growth in the nation.

Goschen said MTN planned to invest over $1.5 billion in 2013, having invested $1.6 billion last year, adding that enhanced network quality is the group’s key focus.

“Enhancing our network quality is a key focus of the investment as we lead the delivery of a bold new digital world for our customers,” he said.

Goshen also explained that the deal is the sixth of such strategic partnerships with other notable ones including the $170 million commercial paper facility secured by the company in 2002, and a $395 million medium-term facility in 2003.

He stated that the 2003 deal was the largest African telecoms funding deal to close outside of South Africa at the time and won Project Finance magazine’s “African Telecoms Deal” for that year.

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