Onome Amuge
Nigeria’s long-struggling national telecom operator ntel has secured another round of undisclosed funding set to return the company to commercial operations by early 2026. The injection, arranged by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), is the latest step in the government agency’s ongoing attempt to salvage a once-flagship asset that has lurched from collapse to crisis for over a decade.
AMCON, which holds a controlling 55 per cent stake, assumed full management control of ntel in 2024 after years of insolvency. Since then, it has spearheaded a phased revival plan, including a reported N30.72 billion investment in August 2025.
“This house must be put in order before it is handed over,” a person close to the process said, hinting at AMCON’s reluctance to accept President Bola Tinubu’s earlier stance that ntel should be sold even for scrap if necessary.
Founded in 2016 from the remains of NITEL and MTel, ntel had positioned itself as a challenger brand with a promise of 4G services. But underfunding, leadership disputes and mounting debt forced it into near dormancy. AMCON has since reshaped the management structure, bringing in Soji Maurice-Diya, a former head of American Tower Nigeria, as chief executive in May to replace Adrian Wood, the ex-MTN Nigeria boss who led an unsuccessful $550 million fundraising effort.
Under the new strategy, ntel plans to operate on a hybrid model, using both its own infrastructure and mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) partnerships. The company still retains valuable national assets,more than 3,500 kilometres of fibre-optic cable and some 600 base stations, giving it a platform for wholesale and retail services if operations resume at scale.
Preparations for relaunch are already underway. Recruitment adverts for finance, administration and customer-facing roles have surfaced in recent weeks, suggesting a gradual rebuilding of the workforce. Meanwhile, ntel continues to monetise its resources by leasing parts of its spectrum to MTN Nigeria, providing a lifeline of revenue.
If the relaunch proceeds as planned in the first quarter of 2026, ntel could become the first state-rescued operator in the Nigerian telecom market to successfully re-enter competition. Yet doubts remain over whether renewed funding will translate into market share in an industry dominated by MTN, Airtel and Globacom, all of which have expanded aggressively while ntel was sidelined.
Analysts contend that the outcome of AMCON’s gamble will not only shape ntel’s fate but could also serve as a test case for how far Nigeria is willing to go in resuscitating troubled state-linked enterprises in a sector critical to digital growth.
