Telecom

Positioning Telecom Market for Massive Investment

Published

16 years ago

April 6, 2010

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After about two years of inactivity in telecommunications industry around the world which was occasioned by the global economic meltdown, things have started picking up as most multi-national telecom equipment manufacturers as well as operators who drastically reduced their investment especially in developing countries are now ready to massive invest this year.
This is based on a new study published by Technology Strategies International in partnership with BroadGroup TMT Ventures. The report says that even though Nigeria became the largest mobile market on the African continent in 2008, it still has a mobile penetration level of less than 50%, suggesting that there is ample room for expansion of the market. Penetration in the fixed line segment is dismal and there is a vast opportunity to improve internet penetration, the report pointed out.
"One of the things fuelling the growth in the Nigerian ICT sector is the imminent illumination of two undersea cables, which will increase international bandwidth dramatically. The improvement in international connectivity will have a major impact on business in Nigeria," Christie Christelis, President of Technology Strategies International said.
At the other end of the spectrum, there is still huge latent demand for mobile phone services, added Christelis. “Operators in Nigeria are experiencing similar challenges to operators in other emerging economies, with declining ARPUs as the subscriber base broadens to include poorer segments. But companies such as MTN have demonstrated that even at ARPU levels of $12 – and declining – astute operators are able to make above superior margins,” he said.
Christelis noted that the recent political crisis surrounding President Ya’Ardua’s ill-health, and the instatement of Vice President Goodluck Jonathan as acting President, is a temporary setback for the country, and is bound to make investors jittery about the prospects of investing in Nigerian technology companies. But he said that, provided the political transition is well managed, it is unlikely to impede growth in the ICT sector in Nigeria. The Nigerian Government’s Vision 2020 initiative is creating an environment conducive to high growth.
"There is huge momentum behind the growth, and even through the recent global financial crisis investors have managed to source funds for good investment opportunities in Nigeria. One example is the capitalization of the infrastructure sharing venture, Helios Towers. The Helios business model could well be rolled out across other emerging economies."
Key opportunity areas identified in the report include expanding the reach of the undersea cables, building out mobile infrastructure, turning investments into fixed wireless infrastructure into sustainable businesses, expanding the retail network for mobile, fixed wireless and internet services, and in electronics manufacturing. Christelis said that the Nigerian Government is particularly keen to promote an indigenous electronics manufacturing and is doing much to attract investor interest.
Christelis warns, however, that the Nigerian ICT sector is complex and investors must give due consideration to the characteristics of the Nigerian market when evaluating business plans. The sensitivity of the economy to oil price fluctuations can result in a volatile foreign exchange. Regionalism has a big impact on the extent to which services can be rolled out. And corruption weighs heavily on investors’ minds, he added. The fact that the market is liberalized, and hence very competitive in certain segments, provides some safeguards to investors.
In fact, the eight year of telecom sector reform has brought about substantial private sector investment, increase in the number of market players, unprecedented growth in the network, expanded geographic coverage, empowerment of citizenry, employment creation and economic stimulus.
The role of a regulator and government in developing telecommunications sector is demanding and encompasses far-reaching and multi-disciplinary issues. To be successful, the functions should be based upon a well defined set of objective which typically includes attracting investment, infrastructure planning and development, sector efficiency, encouragement of competition among others.
As the economy of the nation continues to look up as well aas the position of Nigeria as a major commercial centre in the West Africa region, the demand for reliable and modern telecommunication infrastructural facilities is heavy.
Nigeria must therefore be viewed as a major market for telecommunications equipment and services in technology areas such as: digital transmission system (including microwave, satellite and optic fibre), submarine communications, digital exchanges (wired and wireless), billing systems and data communications networks including primary rate ISDN and Broadband ISDN services. The Government should be interested in attracting local and international operators to come and participate, in the urgently needed expansion of the country’s telecommunications infrastructure by providing the enabling environment for the intending investors in the sector.
What need to be done
There are challenges in the telecom sector that are inimical to investment which need to be addressed if the country will attract the desired massive investment that is coming into the ICT sector of the country’s economy.
Some of these challenges according to Gbenga Adebayo, chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (Alton), could hinder the sustenance of the growth, if they are not nipped in the bud. He listed some of the challenges as multiple regulation, government interference in telecom matters, multiple taxations, insufficient broadband rollout in the industry, security of infrastructure, quality of service, inadequate power supply, and state of access roads, among others.
Adebayo called for the scrapping of all forms of levies and fees charges by various agencies of government on right of way approvals, insisting that they are all inimical to a true regulatory framework in any society.
He also explained that capacity building is critical for the sustenance of telecom development and that more effort is needed from government to ensure that the technical manpower requirements for the information and communications technology (ICT) industry were met. This, he said, was traceable to challenge in the socio-economic environment and the guaranteed minimum quality of lives and that the industry was loosing a number of highly trained personnel to other countries with less potential, but with better social security and standard of living and economic values, better healthcare, better education guarantees for their children, better security of lives and properties and quality of living.
He reiterated the fact that telecommunications in Nigeria remained the most functional and reliable public social infrastructure, while calling on stakeholders to continue to do the needful to sustain the growth and stability of the telecom sector of the economy through the provision of enabling environment for investors both local and foreign.
In order to optimize and accelerate development in telecoms sector in the country, attention must continue to be paid to these key issues that affect investment.
The sector today requires massive inflow of private investment for infrastructure upgrade and expansion. Half-hearted liberalization measures have denied many African countries access to investment that could have been available to the sector both from within and outside such countries. Governments must therefore resist pressures to protect incumbent operators to the detriment of truly competitive markets.
The need for government to provide the right environment that will attract serious investors and for market forces to thrive cannot be overemphasized. All policies must of necessity be aimed at attracting new sources of capital, accelerating network expansion, improving pricing, enhancing quality of service, introducing of new technologies and providing access to ICT resources to all citizens at affordable prices.
The expansion of telecommunications facilities must go side by side with the development of human resource capacity that will support the industry. We must develop knowledge, skills and competencies to understand, plan and deploy the complex networks of wireless systems, fibre optics, satellite systems, and a host of other information and communications technologies.
Industry watches that spoke to Nigeria CommunicationsWeek believed that attracting massive investment in the telecom industry goes beyond providing a good regulatory framework which NCC has done, and that environmental as well as operational challenges are very key to achieving it.
They cited instances of bureaucratic bottleneck in securing approval for deployment of telecom infrastructure which state and local governments give. They also decried unending demand by government agencies for one levy or the other, for example, MTN disclosed that an environmental agency demanded that it pays N1million every year on its mast. Recently, some manufacturing companies in the country have started relocating their production factories to neighbouring countries that have improved social infrastructure especially power which accounts for over 60 per cent of cost of production in the country. Telecommunications sector is not different, imagine where an operators do not have to provide generators and its rising maintenance cost on its so 5,000 base station what such operator would be saving.
Such an operator will be saving the cost of 10,000 generators at a cost of N2million each as well as cost of fueling such generators where it runs on it for 17 hours in a day. Operators will not face the problem of theft of these generators that is now target to armed robbers.
All these challenges make nonsense of most business projections and speculation of foreign investors into the country, which has resulted in scaring them away from investing in the country. The earlier these issues are addressed the better for the country to position the sector for the incoming massive investment in the sector.

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Telecom

Airtel Africa Foundation Publishes Inaugural Annual Report

Published

5 hours ago

June 12, 2026

Chike Onwuegbuchi

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Airtel Africa Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Airtel Africa plc, has released its inaugural annual report, marking its first full year of delivery and impacting millions of learners and communities across Africa.

During the reporting period, the Foundation committed $6.2 million to interventions across its four strategic pillars; Financial Inclusion, Education, Environmental Sustainability and Digital Inclusion (FEED), with education receiving the largest share of investment.

Key achievements include connecting 1,028 schools to the internet through its partnership with UNICEF, bringing the total to 3,296 schools connected across 13 countries, reaching over 2 million learners and nearly 39,000 teachers. In addition, 64 zero-rated digital platforms enabled over 11 million learners to access free educational content.

The Foundation also improved the condition of public schools, with seven fully renovated and 43 undergoing upgrades under the School Adoption Programme that integrates infrastructure improvements with digital access and holistic student development.

Through the Airtel Africa Tech Fellowship, 257 full university scholarships were awarded in Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Uganda, expanding access to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education and building a pipeline of high-potential African technology leaders.

In addition to this, 30,530 youth and women were trained through digital skills initiatives delivered with national, multilateral, and private-sector partners.

Segun Ogunsanya, Chair, Airtel Africa Foundation said: “The Airtel Africa Foundation was established to help dismantle barriers caused by unequal access to opportunity. While talent and ambition are abundant, access to education, digital tools and economic participation remains uneven. Through partnerships and our continental reach, we are committed to investing in communities furthest from opportunity.”

The report also underscores the Foundation’s growing focus on measurable outcomes and long-term systems change.

The Foundation aims to scale proven interventions in the year ahead, including expanding its School Adoption Programme to over 80 schools, increasing scholarships to more than 600 youth, providing free internet connectivity to an additional 2000 schools, and extending digital skills and financial inclusion initiatives to underserved communities.

“As a Foundation, we are positioned to deliver skills development and lasting change at the individual and household level, while partnering with governments to unlock Africa’s economic transformation”, Mr Ogunsanya added.

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Telecom

Zoho Unveils Homegrown Server, Takes Bold Step Toward Tech Independence

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5 hours ago

June 12, 2026

Ugo Onwuaso

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Zoho Corporation, a global technology company and parent company of Zoho and ManageEngine, announced the launch of Nathu La, a designed-in-house server and a pivotal step in the company’s journey towards building its full technology stack, from the hardware layer to software applications.

Zoho

With Nathu La, Zoho has achieved equivalent performance with 12-18% lower power consumption and 20-30% lower total cost of ownership (TCO), thereby reducing inference costs. The Nathu La server, comprising Intel® Xeon® 6 processors, was developed collaboratively with Intel, leveraging their enablement capabilities and technical expertise.

“Zoho Corporation has invested in building its own technology stack from the ground up over the last three decades. The Nathu La server launch is in line with that goal,” said Kehinde Ogundare, Country Head, Zoho Nigeria.

“With our strategy of using contextual, right-sized models, running on our own platform, on our own servers, in our own data centres, we are compounding the benefits accrued from owning and operating our entire technology stack.

“This ensures that our solutions are more sustainable and accessible for businesses. These long-term R&D investments we are making at every layer of the stack are aimed at delivering customer value.”

Building the Full Technology Stack

The design philosophy behind Nathu La is rooted in the Open Compute Project (OCP), emphasising modularity, thermal efficiency, and ease of maintenance. This enables Zoho’s data centres to significantly reduce total cost of ownership and power consumption.

Zoho plans to host its applications on the Nathu La server platform, enabling the company to optimise the full software-hardware stack for its specific workloads, reduce costs, improve performance, and strengthen data governance for its global customers. This will also help bring down inference costs for Zoho’s AI usage.

Developed Hardware Engineering Talent

In 2020, Zoho established a small R&D team in Nagpur, a Tier 2 town in India, focused on projects such as server design and systems engineering. Members of the Nathu La R&D team include hires from SETU – short for Student’s Engagement for Transformative Upskilling – an initiative designed to build a pipeline of industry-ready engineers, with a focus on advanced learning in Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM).

The initiative directly addresses the growing need for stronger foundational engineering skills in an era increasingly influenced by AI-assisted development. By prioritising hands-on innovation and first-principles problem-solving, SETU helps cultivate deeper research capabilities, creativity, and applied engineering expertise. To date, over 300 students have been trained through the programme, some of whom have joined Zoho.

What’s Inside

The Nathu La server motherboard and chassis platform is the result of five years of R&D across hardware, firmware, and systems management. Based on Intel® Xeon® 6 Processors, the server is designed to optimise performance for virtualisation (VM), High Performance Computing (HPC), AI inference, and storage applications. This results in improved performance of Zoho applications for end users.

The server features customised power delivery subsystems, an in-house DC-SCM (Data Centre Secure Control Module) design, and modular chassis options compatible with diverse end-user environments, offering flexibility across deployment types.

All modular components – including the DC-SCM and NIC (Network Interface Card) – were designed in-house by Zoho’s hardware engineering team and assembled through electronics manufacturing partners, enabling tighter integration and quality control across the platform. Over five patents have been filed covering advanced thermal management and cost-optimised server architecture designs.

Moving Towards Technological Sovereignty

Nathu La is engineered with hardware-rooted security at every layer of the stack. The platform’s indigenous IP-driven approach reduces dependency on external entities for security audits, firmware updates, and licensing continuity.

The solution aligns with open-source software principles and reflects Zoho’s broader commitment to building sustainable, secure, and scalable digital infrastructure. It also supports the growing global focus on digital sovereignty, local innovation ecosystems, and high-performance computing capabilities.

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NDSF 2026: Teniola, Ebeledike Inducted into Hall of Fame as NiRA, MTN, Digital Realty sweep top honors

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5 hours ago

June 12, 2026

Ugo Onwuaso

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The 17th edition of the annual Nigeria DigitalSENSE Forum (NDSF) on Internet Governance for Development concluded on a high note Thursday, at the Welcome Centre Hotels, Lagos, culminating in the prestigious DigitalSENSE Africa Hall of Fame Awards.

Induction of chairman NDSF-26 – Ogbuefi Remmy Nweke, inductee Dr Olusola Teniola, award presenter and 2nd Vice President, Association of Anambra Development Unions (AASDU Lagos) Chief Mezie Okwuosa, and President, DNS WomenNG Foundation, Lolo Nkem Nweke at the 2026 DigitalSENSE Africa Awards and Induction held at prestigious Welcome Centre Hotels, International Airport Road, Lagos, on Thursday, June 11, 2026.

This landmark edition, themed “Sustaining WSIS Vision with Multistakeholder Synergy in Nigeria,” served as a vibrant backdrop for celebrating the pioneering individuals and corporate giants anchoring the nation’s digital evolution.

The high point of the forum was the official induction of industry titans into the DigitalSENSE Africa Hall of Fame; an elite circle reserved for trailblazers who have dedicated decades to defending digital rights, shaping technology policy, and building critical national infrastructure.

Dr. Olusola Teniola, who masterfully presided over the day’s proceedings as the Forum Chairman, was received into the Hall of Fame to a resounding ovation. A veteran with over 32 years of global technology experience, Dr. Teniola, currently the Director of Strategic Business Initiatives at ipNX Nigeria and former President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON); was honored for his relentless advocacy in broadband expansion, internet affordability, and his steadfast guidance within Nigeria’s multi-stakeholder space.

Joining him in the Hall of Fame was the highly respected Ebeledike, whose strategic contributions to infrastructure resilience and ecosystem sustainability were formally enshrined. The induction celebrates a legacy of deep institutional dedication, recognizing leadership that successfully bridges the gap between complex digital policy and grassroots national development.

In a deeply emotional and poignant segment of the ceremony, the forum paid a special posthumous tribute to the late Gbolahan Awonuga, the beloved former Executive Secretary of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON).

Recognized for his foundational contributions, unparalleled dedication, and decades of structural service to the telecommunications sector, the special posthumous honor was met with immense reverence by industry leaders. The organizers noted that Awonuga’s enduring legacy as a bridge-builder between operators and regulators remains a vital cornerstone of Nigeria’s modern digital infrastructure footprint.

In the corporate categories, the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) emerged as a standout winner. Charged with managing Nigeria’s country-code Top-Level Domain (.ng), NiRA was named the ‘Custodian of the Decade’ in recognition of its monumental strides in digital sovereignty and cybersecurity. The organizers praised NiRA’s leadership for aggressively localizing Nigeria’s online identity, lowering barriers to domain acquisition, and fortifying the underlying Domain Name System (DNS) infrastructure against evolving global threats.

Simultaneously, telecom giant MTN Nigeria was honored with the DigitalSENSE Africa 2026 Mobile Inclusion and Connectivity Award. The accolade recognizes MTN’s unmatched contributions to expanding the Nigerian telecommunications landscape, bridging the digital divide, and ensuring millions of citizens are linked to the digital economy.

Adding to the stellar corporate honors, infrastructure giant Digital Realty was recognized with the DigitalSENSE Africa 2026 Infrastructure Backbone Award: Digital Realty Nigeria. The milestone award highlights Digital Realty’s foundational role in scaling Nigeria’s cloud readiness, anchoring local data hosting capabilities, and providing the robust data center framework necessary to power a secure, resilient African internet ecosystem.

Reflecting on the significance of this year’s awards, Ogbuefi Remmy Nweke, Lead Convener of NDSF and Group Executive Editor of ITREALMS Media Group, noted that the 2026 honors list represents the perfect intersection of regulation, infrastructure, and identity.

“Achieving true digital trust requires honoring the people who build the networks and the institutions that protect our identity on those networks,” Nweke stated. “Dr. Teniola, Ebeledike, MTN, Digital Realty, the late Gbolahan Awonuga, and the team at NiRA embody the exact multi-stakeholder synergy required to keep the WSIS vision alive and thriving in Nigeria.”

The 2026 NDSF enjoyed robust support from institutional heavyweights and industry pillars, including the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), IHS Nigeria, Digital Realty, Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG), NiRA, the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), the Internet Society (ISOC) Nigeria Chapter, the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP), and the Nigeria Information Technology Reporters Association (NITRA).

With this successful outing, the forum has once again solidified its position as the ultimate barometer for progress in Nigeria’s digital economy; celebrating foundational triumphs while actively mapping out the policy breakthroughs of tomorrow.

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