SI E3: Homegrown vs. Global in Nigeria: Globacom vs. MTN

In Nigeria’s booming telecom sector, the early 2000s saw a showdown between MTN (the South African entrant) and Globacom (Mike Adenuga’s indigenous Nigerian network). This episode recounts how Globacom launched as the first Nigerian-owned GSM operator in 2003 and took on the established foreign players with cheaper rates and per-second billing. By offering innovations tailored to Nigerians, “Glo” grew to become the second-largest operator behind MTN, proving a local company could challenge a multinational on home soil. This rivalry highlights themes of nationalism, regulatory influence, and fierce marketing wars for Nigeria’s tens of millions of subscribers.