5G is catalyst for industrial transformation in Africa, says MTN Group CEO

Abubakar Yunusa Abuja

Ralph Mupita, chief executive officer and president of MTN Group, says 5G technology is vital in ensuring Africa’s economic development and actualising its full potential.

He said this in a chat with MTN media innovation programme (MIP) fellows during a recent courtesy visit at the MTN Nigeria headquarters in Ikoyi, Lagos.

In August, MTN kicked off the 5G rollout in seven Nigerian cities including Lagos and Abuja.

“It is important that we emphasise how using 5G for business-to-business applications and margination would be the catalyst for Africa’s growth,” Mupita said.

“I think we will find in five years, maybe even sooner, that on the African continent, 5G is what would enable economies to accelerate their industrial development across the educational, agriculture, mining, or transportation industries.”

“There has been quite a bit of investment into national 5G coverage where citizens and businesses of Nigeria are leading.

“If we get to 50% population coverage by 2025, Nigeria will lead many nation-states in the developed markets through the extent of national coverage. 5G technology will be a critical infrastructure in the country, enabling Nigeria to meet its promise and capabilities.”

Mupita said the company remains committed to its desire to provide its over 280 million subscribers access to a modern connected life.

The MTN boss further congratulated the MIP fellows on the completion of their six months programme at the School of Media & Communication, Pan-Atlantic University.

Also speaking at the meeting, Karl Toriola, CEO of MTN Nigeria, assured that iPhone and Samsung users in the country would get a 5G signal on their phones within a couple of weeks.

“The truth is that Samsung and Apple, which are the two leading manufacturers, have a rigorous testing process before they release the software, unlike 2G, 3G and 4G, there was nothing like that,” Toriola explained.

“But for 5G, the two manufacturers are going to release software that would allow MTN Nigeria users, specifically, to begin to see the 5G signal on their mobile phones.

“We expect this to happen in the next four to six weeks. You will begin to see the 5G signals on Samsung and Apple mobile devices, and you can test the speed to confirm what we have been saying.

“Let me also caution you, if you do a speed test, it consumes about 1.2GB of data, this is just to inform people: it is not MTN that is taking the data, but the application.”