Telecom
Grace Sustaining Nigeria’s Satellite in Orbit- NASRDA
Halilu Shaba, director-general, National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), has said that Nigeria’s satellite expired 3 years ago but still functioning by ”grace”.
This is coming after a similar revelation by Space in Africa, that NigeriaSat-1, NigComSat-1, and EduSat-1 – three Nigerian satellites are no longer in orbit.
But speaking in an interview on Channels Television, Shaba, said the satellite expired in 2018 and that Nigeria has only one satellite and that it is not enough to serve the country and is only gibing necessary data based on ‘Grace’
Shaba said the satellite was installed in 2011 and should have been changed because it has a seven-year life span.
“We have only one satellite (built in 2011). It has a seven-year life span and the life span is supposed to have expired in 2018. In our culture of satellite industries, you build a new satellite that is supposed to have replaced that one before you; we have not done that,” Shaba said.
“We are living on grace because normally based on the fuel of the satellite, you imagine that it is going to last for seven years but since 2018, the satellite has been functional and it is still giving us the necessary data.”
Shaba said though having more than one satellites and changing the old one is a priority, the country’s dwindling resources have made it difficult to achieve that.
Only recently, Space in Africa which produces authoritative business and market analysis reports for the African Space and Satellite Industry segments, reported that NigeriaSat-1, NigComSat-1, and EduSat-1 – three Nigerian satellite are no longer in orbit.
Space in Africa reported that only NigComSat-1R, a communications satellite, NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X, an Earth observation satellites, are still active.
The report “Replacing Nigerian Satellite Gone Past Design Life; The Journey So Far” authored by Mustapha Iderawumi , said that “Nigeria’s first satellite, NigeriaSat-1, was launched on September 27, 2003, and on August 17, 2011, a replacement, NigeriaSat-2, the most powerful imaging spacecraft ever sent into orbit , was launched.”
The report went on the say that an equivalent satellite, NigeriaSat-X, was co-launched with NigeriaSat-2 at the Yasny military base in Russia
On May 13, 2007, the country’s and Africa’s first communications satellite, NigComsat-1, was launched at an overall cost of USD 300 million. It de-orbited on November 11, 2008, and a replacement, NigComsat-1R, was launched on December 19, 2011.
The cost of both satellites was USD 48.4 million, including launch and insurance. NigeriaSat-1, a satellite built exclusively by the Federal University of Technology Akure, cost the country USD 13 million.
Both NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X have a design life of seven years.
In 2014, six years after it has outlived its design life, NigeriaSat-1 was decommissioned by engineers and scientists of the NASRDA, burning up in a controlled re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere.
Nigeria’s EduSat-1 was launched on 3 June 2017. The entire cost of the project, including building and launch, was USD 500,000. EduSat-1 de-orbited on 13 May 2019.
Of Nigeria’s six satellites: NigeriaSat-1, NigComSat-1, and EduSat-1 are no longer in orbit. That leaves three active satellites: NigComSat-1R, a communications satellite, NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X, an Earth observation satellites.
The design life of NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X ended in 2018, although they are still in orbit and working, but not optimally. The design life of NigComSat-1R will end in 2025.
Nigeria plans for NigeriaSat-3 and NigeriaSAR-1 to replace the two Earth observation satellites, NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X, that have outlived their design lives.
Clydestone Ghana Plc has filed a writ of summons and statement of claim against MTN Ghana, MTN Group Limited and Mobile Money Fintech Limited, alleging unauthorized use of its intellectual property.
The company announced the court action at the Ghana Stock Exchange, confirming proceedings in the Commercial Division of the High Court of Ghana.
The case relates to work commissioned in 2007 that Clydestone alleges was later used without authorisation or compensation.
Clydestone said the claim involves proprietary intellectual property, confidential commercial information and operational methodology developed during the engagement. The company is seeking declarations, damages and equitable remedies.
In a statement, Clydestone said MTN Ghana engaged it in 2007 to develop a commercial and operational framework for a mobile money business.
“The work was developed and delivered by the company’s founder and Group CEO, Paul Jacquaye, and included a full mobile money ecosystem covering the commercial model, operational architecture, implementation methodology and business case.”
Clydestone said the work was commissioned on the understanding that a non-disclosure agreement and memorandum of understanding would be signed.
It alleges these agreements were not finalised despite repeated requests.
The company further alleges MTN Ghana later used its proprietary work and methodology without authorisation or compensation, including in MTN Mobile Money Ghana and other markets.
Clydestone said the alleged use has continued since the launch of MTN Mobile Money Ghana in 2009.
“The wrongful use of that work has been ongoing since 2009. What has changed is the availability of independently verifiable information that documents its scale and commercial significance,” the company said.
It cited the GSMA State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money 2026 and MTN Ghana’s 2025 annual report as evidence of the platform’s scale.
According to Clydestone, the reports show approximately 19.3 million active users and annual revenue of about GHS 6.0 billion ($516m).
The company said it reviewed its records following these publications and concluded there were sufficient grounds to initiate legal proceedings.
It added that it has received no payment or acknowledgement for the work since December 2007, and that pre-action correspondence in 2026 received no substantive response.
“The Board of Directors has unanimously authorised the commencement of these proceedings,” the company said.
Jacquaye said: “This case is about accountability for commissioned intellectual property.
“When independent publications in 2025 and 2026 revealed the scale of the mobile money business, we reviewed all documentation relating to the original engagement and concluded these proceedings were necessary.”
MTN Group Limited, named as a defendant, had not commented at the time of publication.
In a development that underscores the fragile state of Nigeria’s telecommunications grid, an incident of infrastructure vandalism in Delta State has severely disrupted network connectivity, leaving thousands of subscribers stranded.
The breach, where a robber attacked the sites, occurred at an IHS-managed telecom node in the ASB region on July 8, 2026, immediately knocking 33 base stations offline across 2G, 3G, and 4G spectrums.
The situation in the region escalated drastically by morning when a separate fibre-optic cable cut severed primary transmission lines. Because the compromised node serves as a critical fibre convergence point, the secondary fibre cut triggered a cascading failure.
This secondary disruption ballooned the number of dark sites from 33 to 103, temporarily paralysing digital communications, banking, and commerce in the affected communities.
Industry sources reveal that the financial and logistical toll of such incidents is becoming unsustainable for Mobile Network Operators (MNOs).
Currently, network providers are utilising 20 per cent more spare parts than initially budgeted for the fiscal year.
This unpredictable depletion of technical reserves has stripped operators of their supply buffers, making inventory management and financial forecasting increasingly difficult for telecom executives.
Consequently, engineering teams have been forced to cannibalise materials originally designated for network expansion and new site rollouts just to perform emergency restorations on the damaged sites.
This diversion of resources significantly delays the rollout of new infrastructure, stifling the nation’s broader broadband penetration targets and stalling anticipated revenue generation for the telecom companies.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) recently noted an average of 1,744 weekly attacks on telecom infrastructure nationwide, including over 1,100 fibre cuts.
As operators endure protracted back-and-forth negotiations with insurance firms to cover these sudden hardware losses, stakeholders are intensifying calls for the strict enforcement of the Federal Government’s recent designation of telecom assets as Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII) to safeguard Quality of Service (QoS).
Viral rumors about a “Tesla Pi Phone” a new phone, being developed by Elon Musk, CEO and largest shareholder of Tesla and SpaceX, are entirely fake.
AI Generated Tesla Pi Phone and Elon Musk
Instead, the tech giant said on Monday it has filed an application with the US Federal Communications Commission for permission to deploy the constellation by 2028.
It said the system would provide voice, messaging, data and emergency services.
A quick fact-check revealed that Tesla Inc. has never manufactured, developed, or released a smartphone.
Videos and articles claiming a release (often priced between $150 and $800 with solar charging or satellite-only connections) rely on AI-generated concept art and recycled internet hoaxes dating back to 2021.
Musk has only mentioned a phone in hypothetical remarks, stating Tesla would build one only if major app stores completely blocked or censored essential apps like X (formerly Twitter).
On Monday however, his company said that “Amazon looks forward to delivering on the promise of D2D [direct-to-device] connectivity, including to the millions of people living, travelling and working in places beyond the reach of existing networks today,”
The filing is the first step from Amazon into satellite mobile connections, which has until now been dominated by SpaceX’s Starlink service.
Musk’s group has signed partnerships with existing operators such as T-Mobile US and the UK’s Virgin Media O2 to provide phone services for customers where their conventional networks do not reach.
Starlink operates across more than 150 countries, offering high-speed internet connections through its constellation of satellites.
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