MTN Nigeria, the nation’s largest mobile operator, has signed a N200 billion medium-term loan facility (MTF) agreement with 12 Nigerian banks.
The loan deal, which was sealed this morning at the law office of Oyebode & Aluko in Ikoyi, Lagos is expected to allow MTN expand its services to other parts of the country, especially the underserved and unserved areas of the country.
The new loan arrangement is expected to enable MTN, which is currently the largest operator in Nigeria with 41 per cent market share and services over 60m subscribers, to expand services to rural areas. Mr. Akin Oyebode, who represented the chairman of MTN Nigeria, Mr. Paschal Dozie, said “MTN has been in the market for the past 17 years. It’s been significant. Innovation, geographical spread and network expansion. MTN won’t be where it is today without the support of our lender banks.”
At the signing agreement, MTN Chief Executive Officer, Ferdie Moolman, the signing of the loan was a major landmark in the expansion programme in “which we are making significant investments. The facility will enable us evolve the network to deliver convergent and superior quality, drive voice capacity expansion and data service penetration, maintain optimal capital structure that empowers commerce, industry and the provision of public services.”
Moolman added that the partnership has secured the future, stressing that the loan would support CAPEX rollout, Internet expansion and rural telecoms service expansion.
The facility is structured with a two-year moratorium and a repayment plan of five years and is denominated in naira.
The banks include Citibank Nigeria Limited, Diamond Bank Plc, Ecobank Nigeria Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc, First Bank of Nigeria Plc, First City Monument Bank, FSDH Merchant Bank Limited, Rand Merchant Bank Nigeria Limited.
Others are Standard Chartered Bank Plc, Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, United Bank of Africa Plc and Union Bank of Nigeria Plc.
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