In Nigeria’s rapidly evolving digital payments landscape, telecommunications companies have been pushing into financial services, betting that their vast subscriber bases would give them a strong foothold in mobile money. Lately that strategy is showing signs of strain. Major telecom operators such as MTN, Airtel and Globacom are grappling with slower-than-expected adoption and fierce competition from standalone fintech firms. After investing heavily in their fintech subsidiaries, the results have been mixed at best, with impairments and ope
In Nigeria’s rapidly evolving digital payments landscape, telecommunications companies have been pushing into financial services, betting that their vast subscriber bases would give them a strong foothold in mobile money. Lately that strategy is showing signs of strain. Major telecom operators such as MTN, Airtel and Globacom are grappling with slower-than-expected adoption and fierce competition from standalone fintech firms. After investing heavily in their fintech subsidiaries, the results have been mixed at best, with impairments and ope