MTN Nigeria, Africa’s multinational mobile telecommunications company, announced it gained 5.7 million new subscribers and activated 2.6 million barred sims in the first half (H1) of 2022.

The company reported in its unaudited financial statement published last week.

It would be recalled that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) mandated all telecommunications companies to block all Subscriber Identity Module (SIMs) not linked with the National Identification Numbers (NINs).

In all, MTN Nigeria blocked a total of 19 million SIMs as of October 2021 when the policy was first implemented, according to Karl Toriola, MTN Nigeria CEO. Presently, a total of 11.6 million have been activated.

Speaking on the impact of the directive on MTN Nigeria, the CEO said “Despite the slower growth recorded in Q2 due in large part to the restriction of outgoing calls for approximately 19 million of our subscribers (when initially implemented) in line with the NCC’s directive, we remained largely on track, delivering service revenue growth in line with our medium-term guidance of at least 20 per cent in H1.

“Data revenue rose by 51.6 per cent, maintaining the accelerated growth trajectory through increased subscribers and data usage.”

The MTN boss also confirmed that the firm maintained strong commercial momentum and gained a net addition of 5.7 million mobile subscribers.

Furthermore, he assured that MTN would continue to engage its affected customers and support the NIMC in accelerating NIN enrolment in the country.

MTN Records Notable Achievements following the Directive

Toriola disclosed that the company invested N311.6 billion on its 4G network in a bid to improve its network coverage. He said the company now covers 75.3 percent of the population, a notable increase since 2021.

In addition, he noted that the telco acquired one lot of 100MHz in the 3.5GHz spectrum band from the NCC, which has brought them closer to launching their 5G services across the country.

“We achieved some important strategic milestones in H1 towards delivering our Ambition 2025 strategy. This includes the final approval for our MoMo Payment Service Bank (PSB) and the commencement of commercial operations on May 19, 2022″, he added.

What other Telcos Experienced

While MTN recounted its achievements, especially in customer base, other telcos in the country such as Airtel revealed that it lost about $34m in revenue due to the Federal Government’s directive to bar outgoing calls from SIMs not linked to their NINs.

Airtel confirmed they had lost $34m in revenue following the directive and that data revenue grew by 24.8%.

“Voice revenue grew by 10.8 per cent in constant currency, driven by customer base growth of 12.7 per cent while voice ARPU growth was flat”, Airtel said in a recent report.

However, Globacom and 9mobile did not publicly release their financial reports.

Nigeria’s Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, has kicked against the Federal Government’s plans to impose a 5% excise duty on telecommunications services in the country.

The minister, who spoke at the maiden edition of the Nigerian Telecommunications indigenous Content Expo, NTICE, in Lagos, said the sector, which was already drawing in massive interest, creating jobs, and enlarging huge revenue to the GDP, should not be inconvenienced with such taxes.

He said: “The 5 percent excise duty will overburden the industry. As a Minister, I was neither consulted nor obtained a memo to that effect. Even the appropriate lawmakers that were supposed to be talked with have also told me they were not.

”Things are not done that way. Besides condemning the tax, we will take every lawful step to guarantee that the tax does not stand.”

The minister also argued about the large percentage of importation of ICT and telecoms equipment into the country, even when some of these equipment could be acquired in the country.

He gave a marching order to all stakeholders that “henceforth, the Federal Government will not condone importation of anything into the country when it can be manufactured here in the country.

“The sector has to reasonably reduce importation. The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, and the National Office for the Promotion of Indigenous Content, NODIT, should carry out this policy.

“By 2025, we’ll be qualified to increase our indigenous content and decrease importation by about 20 percent.”

The Minister’s attack on the excise duty is coming after major stakeholders in the sector, including the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria, ALTON, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria, ATCON, and National Association of Telecoms Subscribers, NATCOMS, also kicked against the motion, interpreting it as anti-people, provocative, unusual, cold and unreliable.

At a stakeholders’ forum organized in Abuja by the NCC to shed light on its proposed commission, they also complained that such imposition would help aggravate the misery of the Nigerian masses who already had been pushed into suffering and severe poverty.

The new five percent Excise Duty is part of the new finance act signed into law by the President in 2020. It is meant to be received by the Nigerian Customs Service, and President Buhari gave a ruling that it should be carried out on all telecoms service providers in the country, also on all local and foreign goods and services.

The Minister of Finance, Budget, and Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, had also at that event, persuaded stakeholders to assist the commission, saying the decision was informed by the dwindling revenue of the federal government from oil and gas.

She said other countries in Africa, involving Malawi, Uganda, and Tanzania, among others, have all keyed into the revenue generation structure.

A new study from Juniper Research has found that the total number of digital wallet users will exceed 5.2 billion globally in 2026, up from 3.4 billion in 2022; representing strong growth of over 53%. The research predicts that the presence of ‘superapps’ will drive digital wallet use in developing countries that are currently considered cash heavy.

Superapps are multipurpose apps able to integrate digital payments alongside other services, including wealth management and eCommerce.

Asia Pacific Countries to Experience Rapid Growth

The study identified three countries in Asia Pacific primed for rapid growth over the next four years:

1.    Philippines
2.    Thailand
3.    Vietnam

It predicts that the adoption of digital wallets will near 75% of the population in each of these countries by 2026. It cited the rising access to online and mobile commerce services as driving forces behind the use of digital wallets, notably through superapps.

Research co-author Damla Sat explained: “These rapidly growing markets represent a significant opportunity for digital wallet vendors, but they must work intelligently to maximise their position. A highly competitive wallets’ landscape means that vendors must differentiate themselves by integrating machine learning to provide spending insights and introduce new services such as wealth management to add value.”

Innovation Needed for Future QR Payments Growth

Additionally, the research identified QR code payments as the most popular digital wallet transaction type in 2026; reaching 380 billion transactions globally, and accounting for over 40% of all transactions by volume. However, as usage within markets including China and India reaches its apex, vendors must innovate to remain competitive entering new geographic markets. Therefore, the research recommends that QR code payment vendors integrate loyalty features and personalised marketing capabilities to incentivise merchant acceptance, which will be critical to driving adoption.