MTN Nigeria’s operational license has been renewed by the telecoms regulator, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) after paying N71.97 billion to remain in business.

The y’ello network’s Unified Access Service (UAS) licence and spectrum licence for wireless local loop in the 900MHz and 1800MHz band, had expired on August 31, 2021.

The network provider paid N71.6 billion for the spectrum licence, and N374.6 million for the UAS licence, to renew for a further ten year period, starting September 1, 2021.

In a statement sent to the investing public, MTN Nigeria CEO, Karl Toriola, said MTN Nigeria plans to work closely with Isa Pantami and the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, to accelerate the growth of Nigeria’s digital economy.

While MTN Nigeria has renewed its licenses, Airtel Africa is yet to receive approval for license renewal which will expire in November 30, 2021 – the company had paid N71.61 billion for the current licence.

In July, NCC had denied renewing license of Airtel Africa, stating that regulatory review is still ongoing on Airtel, Director of Public Affairs, Ikechukwu Adinde, NCC, had said.

MTN runs Nigeria’s largest mobile phone network which generates around a third of the company’s revenue.

It plans to invest 600 billion naira over the next three years to expand broadband access in Africa’s most populous country and is boosting its 4G coverage to provide home broadband as part of a rural connectivity programme.

MTN has said it plans to connect around 1,000 rural communities to its network this year and extra 2,000 communities next year.