MTN Plans Large Data Centre in Nigeria – Mupita
The MTN Group plans to build a large data centre in Nigeria to support the country’s digital sovereignty and growing demand for secure digital infrastructure.
The group’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Mr Ralph Mupita, disclosed this on Wednesday in Lagos during an engagement with journalists as part of MTN Nigeria’s Media Innovation Programme (MIP).
Mupita described data sovereignty as an increasingly important issue as countries sought greater control over sensitive digital information.
He said MTN was considering how it could partner with governments to develop infrastructure capable of supporting critical national services and the expanding of digital economy.
“We have an aspiration to build a large data centre in Nigeria so that we can meet the sovereign needs of Nigeria,” Mupita said.
He explained that the global debate over digital sovereignty was increasingly focused on where sensitive information was stored and processed, particularly data relating to banking, healthcare, national security and other critical services.
According to him, a future digital infrastructure model is likely to combine locally hosted systems for sensitive workloads with public cloud services for less sensitive activities.
“I anticipate that the world is going to be a hybrid of digital sovereignty around critical and sensitive workloads, and then less sensitive workloads can go into the public cloud,” he said.
He explained that MTN would adopt a market-by-market approach, working with national authorities to determine where its investments could help meet local digital infrastructure needs.
He also identified fibre connectivity as a major investment priority for Nigeria over the next five to 10 years, predicting that homes and businesses would account for a growing share of digital consumption.
“We think the next five to 10 years in Nigeria is the connected home,” he said, adding that the company intended to focus increasingly on connecting homes and businesses through fibre networks.
The president and chief executive officer of the MTN Group explained that fibre offered advantages for high-capacity internet access, particularly as demand increased for remote work, education, gaming and other data-intensive activities.
He said mobile networks find it harder to sustain unlimited data services because of their finite capacity, while fibre connections can provide more capacity for heavy household consumption.
The MTN chief also highlighted the economic consequences of damage to telecommunications infrastructure, particularly fibre-optic cables.
He commended the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and other authorities for recognising fibre infrastructure as critical national infrastructure, noting that damage to the network affected far more than telecommunications operators.
Mupita argued that the cost of fibre cuts should be measured not only by the expense of repairing damaged cables but also by the wider economic disruption experienced by customers and businesses.
“The cost to the economy more broadly will be material,” he said.
He noted that telecommunications infrastructure supported banking, healthcare and other essential services, making its protection a matter of national importance.
He said increasing data consumption also required continuous investment in network capacity.
The chief executive officer noted that customers were using substantially more data each year, creating the need for additional fibre, transmission capacity and supporting infrastructure.
He added that telecommunications operators faced significant capital costs, including imported network equipment and spectrum fees, even as they sought to provide affordable services.
On cross-border digital governance, Mupita called for greater harmonisation of data privacy, data transportation and e-commerce frameworks across African countries.
He said more consistent digital policies could strengthen intra-African trade and improve the resilience of the continent’s digital economy.
He said closer cooperation among African governments will be essential to creating an integrated digital market where businesses and consumers can transact more easily across borders.
