Senate President Bukola Saraki has commended MTN Nigeria for investing in the 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE), saying the launch will further give impetus to the National Assembly’s drive to provide legislature that will leverage technology to accelerate the growth of businesses in Nigeria.
The Senate Committee Chairman on Communication, Senator Gilbert Nnaji, represented the Senate President at the launch in Abuja.
The MTN 4G LTE now places Nigeria among one of the 148 countries globally, 28 in Africa and seventh in West Africa. The launch is expected to achieve the targeted 30 percent National Broadband penetration by 2018.
According to MTN’s Chief Executive Office (CEO), Ferdi Moolman, who was represented by the company’s Chief Operating Officer, (COO), Mohammed Siddiqui, the deployment of MTN 4G LTE will not only enhance browsing experience across Nigeria but will also accelerate the achievement of the country’s targeted broadband penetration by 2018.
“We are excited to officially roll-out MTN 4G LTE services to our esteemed customers. By leveraging on our network, it promises to be the widest LTE coverage in Nigeria. With the acquisition of the 2.6GHZ spectrum earlier this year, our objective was clear: to build capacity to accommodate 4G LTE for the benefit of Nigerians because it is the fastest wireless Internet connection available today. In fulfilling that objective, we have embarked on aggressive optimization of our sites to beef up our capacity for 4G LTE,” he stated.
MTN’s Corporate Services Executive, Amina Oyagbola, who stated that MTN’s 4G LTE service is presently available in Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt, also announced that plans were underway to expand the 4G LTE service to other parts of the country.
While maintaining that MTN subscribers who preferred to remain on the 3G platform were free to do so, she nevertheless stressed that the roll-out of 4G in these cities would decongest the 3G space and make it more efficient in providing digital services.
