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Nigeria’s leading telecommunications company, MTN, has received a new loan facility of US$2 billion from a consortium of 21 foreign and Nigerian banks and financial institutions. At a formal signing ceremony held in Lagos yesterday, Mr. Ahmad Farroukh, MTN’s Chief Executive Officer, reiterated MTN’s determination to continue to play a significant role in fostering Nigeria’s economic growth and development by providing excellent telecommunications and allied services across the country. According to Farroukh, “the loan represents a strong vote of confidence in our operation and our organisation. We see this as a demonstration of the confidence that particularly the Nigerian financial sub-sector has placed in MTN to deliver value to both our customers and the Nigerian economy with 80% of the facility being Naira denominated. We are also thankful to the millions of MTN customers across Nigeria whose loyal patronage has helped to make this possible. “ The $2 billion facility, said to ...

Celtel introduces new numbering plan Jonah Iboma Celtel Nigeria on Thursday announced the introduction of a new Mobile Access Code 0708. The introduction of the new code, which will enable the network to connect and cater for another 10 million customers, adds to the company’s existing number access codes (0802 & 0808) Celtel said the development was an indication of strong subscriber preference for its brand and services. New access codes are allocated to operators by the telecommunications regulatory authority when they are on the verge of exhausting their current numbering plan or when they foresee large demand for their services in the future. Mobile phone numbering codes with a seven digit suffix (0708xxxxxxx) offer 10 million lines to operators and these could be used for pre-paid and post-paid customer lines, special codes and emergency numbers. Celtel said in a statement that the codes have been approved by NCC. IT said, “This addition to our numbering plan has been approve...