MTN TELECOM group is exploring banking licences in selected markets as the company looks to expand lending from its own balance sheet.

Speaking in Johannesburg, South Africa on Tuesday, the CEO of MTN, Ralph Mupita, said the telecom firm ‌is stepping into fintech services to drive growth beyond traditional telecommunications revenue, with lending emerging as one of the fastest-growing segments within its mobile money business.

He said the firm is seeing good growth on advanced services such as payments, e-commerce and ⁠lending.

He emphasized that the big growth now, which will be the growth of the future, is actually lending.

MTN currently provides loans through partnerships with banks.

“We’re beginning to explore, where it makes sense and where there are large customer bases and significant floats in wallets, whether it may make sense to have some sort of banking licence that enables us to take deposits.”

“As such, we will then be lending over time off our own balance sheet. But also, it doesn’t mean we won’t do ‌any ⁠partnership lending,” Mupita said.

He added that the approach would be selective rather than implemented across all of MTN’s operations, stressing that any move to balance-sheet lending would be gradual given the risks involved.

According to Reuters, MTN is also investing in digital infrastructure growth. The company plans to develop AI-enabled data centres ⁠in South Africa and Nigeria through Africa Data Hub Holding, a venture with an undisclosed United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed investor to develop AI-ready data centre infrastructure across key African markets.

Mupita said MTN would ⁠be a minority investor in the venture, while its partner, which has experience building data centres in the UAE and other Gulf countries, would provide ⁠most of the capital and technical expertise.

He added that the initial phase is expected to target about 150 megawatts of capacity across South Africa and Nigeria, with future expansion to be driven by demand.