Our attention has been drawn to media reports regarding the status of taxes relating to the 2015 fine imposed on MTN Nigeria Communications Plc (MTN). We acknowledge that there is a technical disagreement between MTN and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) as to how the fine should be treated for tax purposes. However, while the monies have been paid to FIRS, we have taken the disagreement to the Tax Tribunal set up by FIRS Chairman and Minister of Finance, and are awaiting a decision.

MTN remains fully compliant with Nigerian tax laws and will abide by the findings of the tribunal. The company is committed to meeting its fiscal responsibilities and contributing to the social and economic development of Nigeria.

Since incorporation in 2001, MTN has invested more than NGN2 trillion into the Nigerian economy and has paid more than NGN 1.7 trillion in taxes, levies and other regulatory fees.

Spending on Internet of Things (IoT) technologies in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) is set to top $8.47 billion this year, according to the latest forecast from the International Data Corporation (IDC).

A recent update to the firm’s Worldwide Semiannual Internet of Things Spending Guide shows that IoT spending in the MEA region will grow 15.9% year on year in 2019 and reach $17.63 billion by 2023 as governments and businesses ramp up their investments in digital transformation projects.

Totaling $2.99 billion, hardware is forecast to be the market’s largest technology category in 2019, with the majority of this spending going towards modules and sensors. IoT services, forecast to be worth $2.98 billion, will be the second-largest technology category in 2019.

The big four countries in the region, namely South Africa ($1.9 billion), Saudi Arabia ($1.49 billion), Turkey ($1.24 billion), and the UAE ($0.65 billion), are expected to account for 62% of total IoT expenditure in the MEA region in 2019.

The industries that are expected to spend the most on IoT solutions in 2019 are manufacturing ($1.52 billion), government ($1.11 billion), consumer ($1.09billion), transportation ($1.06 billion), and utilities ($0.73 billion).

Seeing a significant growth in digital currency transactions on the African continent in recent years, driven largely by users under the age of 35, leading global peer-to-peer bitcoin marketplace, Paxful, is on a mission to increase access to the bitcoin economy for the people of Africa through education.

Benjamin Onuoha, Africa’s Regional Consultant for Paxful (Paxful.com), addressed delegates at a Johannesburg event recently to share insights on the bitcoin and cryptocurrency economy as well as present use cases observed from Africa’s consumers.

“The people of Africa have been the most ingenious and resourceful of our users – they are redefining our understanding of the uses of bitcoin. The world has much to learn from Africa about the future of the crypto-economy.”

MTN Nigeria has announced that its subsidiary, Yello Digital Financial Services Limited (YDFS) has been granted a full Super Agent Licence by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The Super Agent Licence enables the scale launch of MTN Nigeria’s fintech strategy. The licence will enable MTN to convert their existing airtime agents and recruit other small businesses to distribute financial services.

YDFS received approval in principle for its Super-Agent Licence in December 2018 and has been conducting a pilot project since then to meet the conditions of a full licence. The successful pilot has now led to the granting of a full licence under which YDFS will distribute financial services to all Nigerians.

Commenting on the licence, MTN CEO Ferdi Moolman said: “We are very pleased that YDFS has been granted a Super-Agent Licence, which enables us to extend access to financial services to a much broader group of Nigerians. This forms part of our commitment to contribute towards the achievement of Nigeria’s financial inclusion goals. Through the network established by YDFS MTN is in a position to broaden the availability of financial services for the under-served across the country. This marks a very important first step in leveraging our infrastructure to scale our Fintech initiatives. We have also applied for a Payment Service Bank Licence, which will enable us in time to offer a broader and deeper range of financial services to those communities and we remain hopeful we will receive approval shortly.”