MTN Nigeria has disclosed that it consumes approximately 1.5 million litres of diesel daily to power its tower sites across the country. The revelation came from the company's Chief Technical Officer (CTO), Yahaya Ibrahim, on Thursday, May 6, during the Mid-Year Y'ello Verse Catch-up event with MIP Alumni and Journalists.

The discussion centered on how MTN Nigeria allocated its N3 trillion in service revenue. The telecommunications operator reported a profit after tax of ₦707.54 billion for the first half of 2026, with ₦1.70 trillion in revenue attributed to data usage alone. As Nigeria's largest mobile operator by subscriber base, the company's cost structure is closely watched as a bellwether for the broader telecom sector's sustainability under elevated energy costs.

According to Yahaya Ibrahim, while MTN Nigeria has alternative energy sources available to power its base stations—including gas and solar—diesel-powered generators remain the primary means of energizing the towers that provide network coverage for calls and internet access to its 92 million subscribers. The CTO noted that the diesel consumption figure spans the company's operations with IHS Towers, ATC, and other tower management companies. Based on the company's H1 2026 earnings report, MTN Nigeria currently operates approximately 66,000 sites nationwide.

The scale of diesel consumption takes on added significance at a time when a litre of diesel costs close to ₦1,950, a price level that surged following Nigeria's fuel subsidy reforms. This challenge is compounded by Nigeria's chronically unreliable power supply—exacerbated by repeated national grid collapses in recent years—which has forced companies across multiple industries to rely on solar installations or petrol and diesel generators to sustain operations. Sectors dependent on electricity have been particularly impacted, increasingly turning to high-cost diesel fuel as a fallback.

Earlier in May, Yusuf Sheriff, Special Adviser (Strategy) to the NCC's Executive Vice Chairman, stated that Nigerian telecommunications operators collectively use at least 40 million litres of diesel each month to power towers, amounting to an estimated ₦72 billion in monthly costs, as previously reported. MTN's daily consumption alone—approximately 45 million litres per month—accounts for a substantial share of that industry-wide total, underscoring the outsized energy footprint of the country's largest operator.

In another significant disclosure, the CTO revealed that MTN Nigeria records an average of 450 site vandalisms per day, placing substantial strain on its operating expenditures (OPEX). Yahaya Ibrahim explained that while these incidents severely degrade network quality, repair efforts are frequently delayed by access denials to base stations, disputes with tower site landlords, insecurity, and other factors beyond the company's control. The vandalism typically involves theft of generators, batteries, and fibre cables—repeated losses that compound the already heavy fuel expenditure burden.

Responding to the same discussion, MTN Nigeria's Chief Financial Officer, Modupe Kadri, added that some network outages tied to telecom site shutdowns stem from access denials by landlords. He attributed these disruptions to breaches of lease contracts, abrupt increases in rent, and related issues.

For the average Nigerian internet user, a network outage translates directly into lost value. Outages temporarily halt mobile banking transactions, cut off internet access for remote workers, disrupt ride-hailing services, and delay business communications—resulting in immediate financial losses and significant frustration for individuals and local enterprises.

In its capital expenditure for H1 2026, MTN Nigeria reported spending ₦620.51 billion. Over the past 18 months, the operator has invested a cumulative ₦1.6 trillion in laying fibre infrastructure, constructing new towers, upgrading networks, and related projects. The tension between that investment pace and the relentless drag of energy costs and vandalism highlights the structural challenge of running critical digital infrastructure in an environment where both power reliability and physical site security remain persistent constraints. For further context on the broader sector, additional analysis is available.