The Chief Financial Officer of MTN Nigeria Plc, Modupe Kadri, has disclosed that the telecom firm spent N1,63tn on capital investment in the last 18 months.

He announced this at the firm’s 25th anniversary celebration, which was commemorated with an exhibition at its headquarters in Lagos on Monday.

“So, over the last 18 months, we spent N1.63m on CAPEX or capital investments. Basically, prior to January 2025, when the regulator gave us a tariff increase. Before that time, there was no increase in prices. So, what we’ve done since then is that we’ve committed over a trillion to CAPEX.

“We’ve also paid over N620bn in terms of taxes and levies. And one thing you need to understand is that at the top line, 2.5 per cent of everything you see is actually operating licence. So, that’s how it works. And we continue to meet our obligations in terms of our licence and insurance,” Kadri explained.

According to the CFO, investing Nigerians have enjoyed appreciable capital gain since MTN listed at the Nigerian Exchange in 2021.

MTN Nigeria shares were first listed on the Premium Board of the Nigerian capital market on May 16, 2019, through a listing by introduction, when 20.35 billion of its existing ordinary shares were listed at N90 per share.

MTN Nigeria shares traded at N845 per share at the close of trading on the Nigerian Exchange on Monday.

“And while today gives us every reason to be proud of the past, anniversaries should never become excesses in nostalgia. The most important question is not what we accomplished in the last 25 years.

The most important question is what will the next 25 years make possible? Is it artificial intelligence? Internet? 5G? And technology that is emerging? If the transformation between 2001 and 2026 has been extraordinary, I believe what lies ahead can be even more profound,” Kadri asserted.

The General Manager, Access Planning and Optimisation, MTN, Nasiru Hayatu, disclosed that the telco currently had over 92 million subscribers, making it the largest telcom firm in the country.

He explained that the firm had been able to manage the significant rise in its subscriber base with the adoption of step-by-step optimisation.

“Step-by-step optimisation is something that we do every year. We have tools that allow us to forecast. We have tools that allow us to look for new areas of opportunity for our architectures,” he added.

MTN Nigeria’s Chief Marketing Officer, Onyinye Ikenna-Emeka, emphasised that the firm had no plan to delve into device sales, noting that it would continue to expand its relationship with original equipment manufacturers of mobile devices to enable Nigerians to enjoy the latest technologies.

“So, what we are doing is further tasking our partners and expanding the possible scope of partnerships to ensure that they don’t just come in and want to concentrate on the other areas that they want to focus on in the region but recognise that the opportunity lies across the entire space of the country,” she said.

Also, the firm’s Chief Digital Officer, Aisha Umar- Mumuni, promised that MTN Nigeria would continue to give Nigerians interesting family content like the Next Afrobest Star, whose second edition was underway.

Meanwhile, during the exhibition tour, the firm’s Chief Customer Relations and Experience Officer, Ugonwa Nwoye, took journalists through the evolution that the telco had undergone, like Project Fame, Extra Cool, etc.

MTN started commercial operations in Nigeria in August 2001, after its historic first test call made on May 16, 2001, at Maritime House in Apapa, Lagos.