…as Nigerians spend N2 trillion on mobile internet subscriptions
Airtel Nigeria Telesonic Limited, a subsidiary of Airtel Africa, has been awarded three licences by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) which will enable the company to expand its fibre-optic network and strengthen its data services infrastructure in the country.
The new licences are the National Long Distance (NLD), Internet Service Provider (ISP), and Sales & Installation Major licences, which essentially deal with data services.
The acquisition is seen as strategic, as demand for data services has been growing exponentially in Nigeria over the years, with the country’s 217.5 million telecom subscriptions continuing to use up larger volumes of data year on year.
The total spending of Nigerians on data services in the year 2024 is projected to surpass N2 trillion. In 2023, MTN alone raked in N1. 07 trillion from data subscriptions, representing a 39.8 per cent growth from N764. 82 billion in 2022.
Data services are key to connecting to the Internet which is deployed for tasks like sending emails, making online payments, watching movies, and playing music, making video calls and also supports health, educational, as well as governance and security services among others.
Airtel’s expansion of its data services on the back of its newly acquired licences, apart from expanding Nigeria’s fibre-optic and data infrastructure, will lead to the creation of a significant number of jobs directly and indirectly, industry watchers say.
According to a release on the NCC website, the NLD licence, valid for 20 years, will be in effect from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2044, allowing Airtel Nigeria to establish and manage long-distance communication networks, providing voice, data, and video services nationwide. Meanwhile, the ISP and Sales & Installation Major licences will be valid for five years, running from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2029.
Airtel Nigeria Telesonic Limited was launched in February as a wholesale fibre division of Airtel Africa, with a vision to revolutionise the continent’s data market. This move follows the December 2023 launch of Nxtra, Airtel’s new data centre business, which builds on the success of its Lagos-based Tier 3 data centre opened in 2022.
At the Telesonic launch, Airtel Africa CEO, Segun Ogunsanya, highlighted the ongoing digital revolution across Africa, driven largely by the rising demand for data services among the continent’s young population. He emphasised Airtel’s commitment to closing the digital divide and fostering innovation and economic growth through scalable and reliable infrastructure.
Nigeria currently has about 35,000 kilometres of fibre optic cables, with plans to expand this by 90,000 kilometres as part of efforts to boost connectivity and digital inclusion. This initiative aligns with the government’s strategy to connect all 774 local government areas and achieve 70% broadband penetration by 2025, as outlined by the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy.
