Mr. Ferdi Moolman, the CEO of MTN Nigeria has expressed confidence in the Nigerian market, saying that his company will invest more in a market he described as resilient. He spoke exclusively to Political Economist at the just-ended ITU Telecom World in Bangkok, Thailand.

MTN Nigeria has been at the receiving end of a heavy fine slammed on it by the Nigerian regulator. The fine has been restructured with the telco already making payments according to the agreed schedule. But in spite of this, Moolman said his company is happy to be in Nigeria and is in the country for the long term.

He said: “It has been very exciting, business has been very good. I think it’s going to be a wonderful future in Nigeria going forward. I’ll rate the NCC as good. They’re very collaborative and very fair and that leads to good competition in the market”.

On the possibility of more investors coming into the Nigerian market, he said: “I think that the more operators you have, the more competitive the environment becomes. Given the current economic climate with the drop in oil prices it’s very difficult to grow and expand telecoms networks. I think right now what is more important is that we need to consolidate the industry, make sure that all the operators survive, make sure that there’s space for every player.

“Like you saw in the earlier presentation of how broadband can develop the economy; broadband is the way to go, it takes data and internet to a lot of people and it pushes the economy. We are very much happy to see the Nigerian market as being very resilient and that’s why we went for the broadband licence and that’s why we’re pushing the broadband explosion. I have so much confidence in the Nigerian market”, he told Political Economist.