By Admin
Africa’s largest carrier, MTN Group, said it is exploring banking licences in some of its markets as it considers using its own balance sheet to expand lending services.
Its subsidiary, MTN Nigeria, its largest market on the continent with over 90 million active subscribers, already has MoMo Payment Service Bank (MoMo PSB) fintech licence issued to it by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to drive financial inclusion by turning mobile phone numbers into secure financial wallets.
Its Group Chief Executive Officer, Ralph Mupita, who disclosed this to reporters, also said the carrier plans to develop artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled data centres in Nigeria and South Africa through Africa Data Hub Holding, a venture with a United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed investor to develop AI-ready data centre infrastructure across its key African markets.
Mupita said the proposed banking licence would allow the telco to take deposits and eventually provide loans directly to customers in markets where it has a large customer base and significant funds held in mobile money wallets.
“We’re beginning to explore, where it makes sense and where there are large customer bases and significant floats in wallets, whether it may make sense to have some sort of banking licence that enables us to take deposits,” he said.
Although MTN currently offers loans to customers through partnerships with banks and other financial institutions, Mupita said the company is considering a gradual shift towards balance-sheet lending in selected markets while retaining its existing partnerships.
He said the plan would not be implemented across all of MTN’s markets, adding that the company would assess the opportunity based on the size of its customer base and mobile money deposits in each market.
According to Mupita, lending has become one of the fastest-growing segments of MTN’s fintech business, alongside payments and e-commerce.
“The big growth now, which will be the growth of the future, is actually lending,” Mupita said.
He said moving towards balance-sheet lending would expose the group to additional risks, making a gradual approach necessary.
Mupita said the expansion into lending is part of MTN’s broader strategy to grow its financial technology business and reduce its reliance on traditional telecommunications revenue.
He hinted that the initial phase of the AI-backed data centres project is expected to target about 150 megawatts (Mw) of capacity across South Africa and Nigeria, with future expansion to be driven by demand.
In an interview, the CEO of Open Access Data Centres (OADC), Dr. Ayotunde Coker, said one Mw of data centre capacity costs approximately $10 million to build.
He added that the baseline could range between $9 million and $14 million per Mw depending on location, tier specifications, and construction efficiencies.
This therefore means that MTN Group, along with its UAE-backed investor, will be spending over $1.5 billion on the AI-backed data centres in Nigeria and South Africa.
