Africa telecommunications provider MTN to spend more than $1 billion to improve Nigeria network

Africa telecommunications provider MTN Group Ltd. will spend more than $1 billion to upgrade its network in Nigeria after the country's telecom regulator warned it to improve mobile network services, Bloomberg News reported Thursday.

"The investment will relieve congestion and improve the quality of the network," Bloomberg quoted Akinwale Goodluck, a spokesman for MTN Nigeria, as saying. The focus will be on second- and third-generation technologies, MTN's core network, and power generators for transmission stations, he said.

The National Communications Commission warned MTN last year to improve mobile services or risk being stopped from signing up new customers, the report on the Bloomberg website said.