MTN Nigeria has announced a major milestone, confirming that its Dabengwa Data Centre in Lagos has received the prestigious Tier III Certification for Constructed Facility from the Uptime Institute. The recognition underscores the company’s drive to reinforce Nigeria’s digital infrastructure as it invests heavily in technology upgrades and new innovations.
“This certification is a testament to the hard work, strategic focus, and collaboration across our teams and partners, in line with global best practices.
“It reflects our commitment to building top-tier infrastructure that supports Nigeria’s digital future, and we will uphold the same high standards of quality, resilience, and compliance to deliver even greater value to our stakeholders.”
MTN Nigeria Chief Executive Karl Toriola
The Dabengwa facility, which opened in July, is one of the country’s largest prefabricated modular data centres, built with 96 prefabricated containers in its first phase. It is designed with AI-powered energy optimisation and hybrid cloud capabilities. The centre provides high reliability and efficiency for enterprise customers, making it a critical part of MTN Nigeria’s long-term infrastructure vision.
Globally recognised as a benchmark for resilience, Tier III certification requires independent paths for both power and cooling, allowing routine maintenance without service interruptions. Facilities at this standard guarantee uptime of 99.982 percent, translating to no more than 1.6 hours of downtime annually.
Expansion Plans To Meet Rising Data Demand
Before attaining this latest certification, the Dabengwa Data Centre had already secured the Tier III Certification for Design Documentation, making it one of only four Nigerian facilities to hold both design and constructed facility certifications. It is also the first MTN technical site to reach this level, further consolidating the company’s enterprise market position and bolstering business continuity.
The achievement aligns with MTN Nigeria’s Ambition 2025 Strategy, which prioritises the development of resilient digital infrastructure as the foundation of the nation’s digital economy. The company reaffirmed its commitment to expanding capabilities and delivering solutions tailored to the evolving needs of customers and enterprise partners.
MTN Nigeria is investing aggressively in 2025 to stay ahead of increasing demand. A $625 million nationwide network expansion plan has been initiated, focusing on infrastructure upgrades and enhancing service capacity. The project includes 240 new 4G sites, fibre-to-home services, and an additional data centre in Lagos. These efforts are to improve the quality of service as the company manages data consumption from its 84 million subscribers.
Alongside infrastructure, MTN Nigeria is investing $20 million into local cloud computing infrastructure, making cloud services more affordable by pricing them in naira with available discounts. This move shields startups from foreign exchange volatility that complicates payments to international providers.
Cloud Innovation And Digital Transformation Initiatives
To deepen its cloud ecosystem, MTN has also launched the Cloud Accelerator programme, supporting 20 startups across fintech, healthtech, cleantech, and agritech. These companies benefit from equity-free grants, expert mentorship, and integration opportunities with MTN’s cloud, API, and CPaaS platforms, aimed at enhancing customer engagement and business growth.
Financially, MTN Nigeria reported a strong performance in the first half of 2025 with a net profit of ₦414.9 billion, driven by a 50 percent rise in tariffs and higher data adoption. Executives remain optimistic that this growth will continue, bolstered by investments in service quality and broader digital services.
The company is also pushing into artificial intelligence and digital transformation. This includes involvement in developing Nigeria’s AI language models and spearheading media innovation programmes designed to equip professionals with digital skills. Such initiatives highlight MTN Nigeria’s ambition to play a central role in the future of the country’s digital economy.
By securing the Tier III Constructed Facility certification and accelerating both infrastructure and innovation projects, MTN Nigeria is positioning itself as not just a telecom leader but also a key driver of national digital transformation.
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