AI Is Reshaping Africa’s $240 Billion Mobile Economy

African mobile operators are expected to invest more than $76 billion between 2024 and 2030 as network expansion continues across the continent.

MTN’s Ambition 2030 strategy includes predictive network management and AI applications in financial services, alongside additional cloud capacity to support growing demand for digital services.

MTN joined NVIDIA, Nokia, Cisco Investments and other investors in ODC’s $45 million funding round in 2026.

ODC is developing AI-based radio access technology for mobile networks, bringing new computing capabilities into the infrastructure operators already use to carry voice and data services.

Mobile technologies and services contributed $240 billion to Africa’s economy in 2025, equivalent to 7.8% of GDP.

MTN’s investment in ODC and its plans for predictive networks put AI spending alongside the capital already going into the expansion and operation of Africa’s mobile infrastructure.

AI Is Moving Into the Cost Base of African Telecom

AI now sits inside several of MTN’s network operations across Africa. In South Africa, the group uses it to manage fuel consumption at data centres, while its Benin operation applies it to energy management at cell sites.

Fibre-cut detection in Côte d’Ivoire and network traffic optimisation in Nigeria have also moved into MTN’s AI programme. More than 300 engineers in the group’s internal software team support its wider AI operations.

MTN reported R3.6 billion in expense efficiencies in 2025, but the figure covers its broader cost programme rather than savings attributed specifically to AI.

The group has separately identified R30 billion in AI-related value-creation opportunities over the next three to five years, including potential revenue and cost benefits.

MTN’s financial reporting does not separate the amount AI has saved on energy, maintenance, network operations or customer service.

The deployments are now identifiable across individual markets, while their contribution to operating costs remains inside the group’s broader financial results.

MTN Is Putting AI Behind Its Next Revenue Push

MTN entered 2026 with 307.8 million subscribers, including 172.1 million active data users. Mobile Money had 69.5 million active users and processed 23.3 billion transactions worth $500.3 billion during 2025.

Ambition 2030 places connectivity alongside fintech and digital infrastructure in the group’s growth plans.

MTN plans to introduce more intelligent financial services through Mobile Money as its AI programme develops.

Its digital-infrastructure plans extend into fibre, cloud services and data-centre capacity, giving the group businesses that earn outside conventional mobile subscriptions.

In August, MTN Digital Infrastructure agreed a data-centre partnership with a UAE-based investment platform for projects in South Africa and Nigeria.

Africa Data Hub Holding is being used for the investment, with Bayobab providing fibre connectivity. The capacity is being built for cloud and AI workloads.

MTN has not disclosed how much of its revenue comes from AI-related products or services across these businesses.

Africa’s AI Spending Is Creating a Wider Infrastructure Trade

Airtel Africa’s Nxtra has a 38 MW hyperscale data centre under development at Eko Atlantic in Lagos and a 44 MW facility at Tatu City in Kenya, where commissioning is scheduled for the first quarter of 2027.

Nxtra plans to operate across almost 50 African cities as demand for cloud and computing capacity expands.

The buildout extends into the infrastructure required to keep those facilities and mobile networks operating.

Airtel Africa renewed 12-year leases covering about 7,100 American Tower Corporation sites across Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya and Niger, with renewable-energy installations included at many locations.

MTN is pursuing full ownership of IHS Towers, whose African portfolio includes nearly 29,000 towers across five of the group’s largest markets. Neither company has classified those tower transactions as AI-specific expenditure.

Equipment spending creates a different flow of capital. African operators rely on multinational suppliers for network hardware and computing technology, placing companies such as Nokia and NVIDIA inside the investment cycle as operators add capacity for more demanding workloads.

Procurement disclosures do not show how much expenditure tied specifically to AI remains with businesses operating in Africa or reaches overseas suppliers.

Africa’s Telecom Operators Have the Distribution AI Companies Need

About 63% of Africa’s population lives within mobile-broadband coverage without using mobile internet, while 9% remains outside coverage.

The usage gap represents nearly one billion people living inside the footprint of existing mobile networks.

African telecom companies already serve consumers and businesses that AI providers are trying to reach.

Mobile money extends those relationships into payments, while enterprise contracts connect operators with companies buying digital services.

The technology behind those services does not necessarily come from Africa. Operators buy computing capacity and network equipment from global suppliers, and many leading AI models are developed outside the continent.

The customer can remain on an African telecom network even when part of the spending behind the service goes elsewhere.