MTN Nigeria is marking 25 years of commercial operations in the country, a period during which it has grown from a greenfield GSM operator into the largest mobile network by subscribers. The company now connects more than 90 million people, with recent figures putting the base at approximately 92.2 million.
Commercial service began in 2001, when mobile phones were still a luxury for most Nigerians and fixed-line teledensity was extremely low. CEO Karl Toriola noted the contrast in recent remarks marking the anniversary: “Twenty five years ago today, MTN began commercial operations in Nigeria. At the time, making a phone call was a privilege for many Nigerians… A mobile phone was beyond the reach of most.” Today the network underpins everyday communication, businesses, education and digital services across the country.
The milestone has been accompanied by a public campaign under the theme “We’ve Come A Long Way,” reflecting both the operator’s growth and the broader transformation of Nigeria’s telecommunications landscape. Over the quarter-century MTN expanded through successive technology generations from 2G voice into 3G, widespread 4G and early 5G while investing heavily in base stations, fibre and related infrastructure.
Sustaining a network of this size requires continuous capital expenditure. In the first half of 2026 alone the company reported investing roughly N621 billion to expand capacity, upgrade sites and maintain a footprint that includes tens of thousands of sites and extensive fibre. The shift from pure voice connectivity to data-heavy services has been central to the second half of the company’s history in Nigeria.
MTN’s trajectory mirrors Nigeria’s wider telecom story: the liberalisation of the sector in the early 2000s unlocked rapid adoption, turning mobile networks into critical national infrastructure. While the anniversary celebrates scale and reach, it also highlights ongoing challenges around network quality, rural coverage and the need for further investment in capacity as data demand continues to rise.
For an operator that began when most Nigerians had never made a mobile call, connecting more than 90 million people is a significant operational and commercial achievement. The next phase will be judged less by pure subscriber numbers and more by the quality, reliability and usefulness of the digital services those connections enable.
