Africa’s biggest mobile carrier MTN will issue almost R2.2 billion (50 billion naira) in Nigeria, as the telco seeks new sources to support operations.

The company announced yesterday that proceeds from the issuance will be used to support the telco’s working capital and general corporate purposes. Reportedly, this is the first time MTN Nigeria has gone to the domestic debt capital market.

MTN is the largest mobile operator in Nigeria, with a total of 68.5 million subscribers, as well as 26.8 million active data subscribers.

In the three months ended March, the telco’s service revenue increased by 16.7% to NGN328.5 billion.

The company has continued to perform well in the West African nation despite the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

MTN Nigeria recorded double-digit growth in digital and fintech revenue for the three months ending March.

Its digital revenue grew by 63.7%, while fintech was up by 36.1%, with MTN saying there was an improvement in the uptake of its digital offerings in the three months.

Similarly, MTN recorded fintech revenue growth of 36.1% (+10.8% quarter-on-quarter) in the first quarter, which it says was driven by an increase in the adoption of MTN Xtratime, an airtime lending service.

“70 000 MoMo agents were added in the quarter, bringing the total number of registered agents to 178 000 nationwide. The total volume of transactions processed by agents during the quarter was over 5.6 million, about 80% of which were airtime vending. Transaction fees for all money transfers using the MoMo agent network were suspended for an initial period of one month starting 23 March, as part of the Y’ello Hope Package,” it said at the time.

MTN notes its enterprise business in Nigeria continued to improve, with revenue growth of 12.7%.

“Enterprise business includes revenue from mobile and fixed connectivity, cloud and ICT solutions, and devices. It cuts across voice, data and digital services for SMEs, public sector and large enterprise customers.”