THE former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MTN Nigeria, Adrian Wood has returned to the Nigerian telecoms space as the new CEO of Ntel, a telecommunication company unbundled from NITEL and managed by the National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers (NATCOMS).

Wood led MTN Nigeria from 2001 to 2004 and resumed on January 8, 2024, as the new CEO of Ntel after taking over from the former CEO, Babatunde Omotoba. He has been tasked with raising $550 million in fresh investment to restructure and rebrand ntel.

In a letter sent to all Ntel staff, Wood urged them to hold fast and told them he would bring in new investors and rebrand the company in a few weeks. He also assured them of fulfilling the responsibilities of his new role.

“On 21 May, I visited the EVC/CEO of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Dr. Aminu Maida.  We had a very productive session about the forward plan for NATCOMS, our role in industry building, and the prospects for raising equity and debt capital to fund a complete new 4G/5G network design and rollout nationwide.

“When the new financial business plan and offering document is ready soon, there will be a roadshow to raise (estimated) US$500 million to US$550 million, to restructure, rebuild and develop NATCOMS,” the letter read in parts.

He further told them about his meetings with the Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON), which has been managing ntel since last year, and their plans to return ntel to its new investors as well as his meeting with the management of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

Notably, activities in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) contributed 16.66 per cent to Nigeria’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the fourth quarter of 2023.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed this in the fourth-quarter released reports. This shows an increase in contribution when compared to the 16.22 per cent recorded in the same period last year.