Telecom
Better Connected, Smarter Cities Attract more Investment
Blurb: With more than 40 percent of Africa’s population living in urban areas, Africa is embracing urbanization and the opportunities and challenges that come with it. Smarter cities are more capable of attracting FDI. For a country and its cells, “Cities”, there is also Maslow-like hierarchy of digital needs. Security assurance is the basic needs.
ICT has an important role to play in attracting capital and investment by increasing efficiency and cutting costs, not only for a country but also at a city-level. However, how closely is ICT and investment correlated to each other and what is the implications for Africa, home to most of the hundreds of millions of new city dwellers expected by 2050?
A report launched recently by UN Habitat (‘The State of African Cities 2018: The geography of African Investment’) explains how African cities can replicate those of East Asia and attract foreign direct investment (FDI) in order to develop sustainably.
The report shows Africa needs to seize a more prominent position in the world economy by enhancing its accessibility, connectivity, markets and urban attractiveness. It finds “reliable mobile networks and internet access attract knowledge-based FDI”.
As a leading company in the ICT industry, Huawei fully agrees with many of the report findings include that firstly, improving ICT infrastructure is critical to attracting FDI, whilst secondly, the ICT industry itself is also a crucial sector for FDI. For the latter finding, the report highlights that ICT sector FDI offers the highest growth rates and highest number of direct jobs along with manufacturing, and that the two are closely linked.
Connectivity provided by communications network and internet has become as important as water and electricity. The State of African Cities Report notes inward FDI into Africa correlates positively with large urban populations (markets), mobile phone subscriptions, internet bandwidth and full electricity supply, “These factors combined with high-quality ICT and lower transaction costs enhance FDI attraction for multinationals.” This parallels Huawei’s own experiences in Africa over the last twenty years.
A better ICT environment can better attract knowledge-based FDI. It starts with having reliable mobile networks and internet access. Internet access itself is not enough though. Huawei believes that in Africa connectivity brought by the network of communication towers and fibre is like the “soil”, which provides the fertile ground for important value-adding crops, which in this case are services including Safe City, E-government, E-education, E-health, E-agriculture and so on that enhance public social services delivery and better allocation of resources. We must keep improving the soil fertility, or the quality, access and speed of the connectivity, so the “crops” can grow successfully improving the ease of doing business and livelihoods.
With more than 40 percent of Africa’s population living in urban areas, Africa is embracing urbanization and the opportunities and challenges that come with it. On the one hand, African countries are gaining agglomeration and economy of scale benefits, but on the other hand they must manage “big city diseases” e.g. congestion, pollution, and even some non-traditional security threats such as financial security and terrorism.
The “smart city” concept is a new critical phenomenon in urban development, especially when cities want to expand their global reach. Smarter cities, according to the report’s studies, are more capable of attracting FDI from more and further destinations. City administrations can therefore set up Smart Procurement Agencies and Competition Commissions, for branding their city as an attractive “smart” investment destination.
How to make a city smarter?
First, construction of smart cities is a giant system that interacts across systems and is a “system of systems”. It requires coordination of cross-domain coordination through the top-level design, including setting goals, priorities, and implementation paths. The top-level design is also essential rather than optional given that cities are paying more attention to civic experiences, technological frameworks, new technology references, and construction models, In addition to projects and investments.
Second, taking a two-step approach starting with Safe City and then moving to Smart City. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, safety and security together with food and water are basic needs for all human beings. For a country and its cells, “Cities”, there is also Maslow-like hierarchy of digital needs. Similarly, security assurance is the basic needs for a country or a city. It lays a solid foundation for a competitive nation and a dynamic city.
Third, to grow the nerve system inside and outside the body. Huawei sees a city as a living organism, which is powered by a nervous system comprises a “brain” (the control center) and “nerves” (the network and sensors). Leveraging leading new ICT such as cloud computing, IoT and AI, Huawei is committed to creating a strong nervous system that powers Smart Cities. More importantly, as the report finds, to establish a national, regional and international network of dedicated smart cities that collaborate and share beneficial information and data.
The report is well-timed and chimes with Huawei’s own experiences from our work across the world, including in African countries. With Huawei’s vision to bring digital to every person, home and organization for a fully connected, intelligent world, we fully support the recommendations in the report that local policy makers should embrace the digital revolution, develop ICT skills and invest more in regional infrastructure, both physical and ICT, to make our cities safer, our lives better and our future smarter.
Localised, industrial-grade artificial intelligence (AI) data centre infrastructure will be delivered across Africa and the Global South, following a strategic alliance between sovereign AI infrastructure company Amini, electronics manufacturing giant Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn) and French digital firm Bull.
The three-way partnership aims to close the sovereign compute gap by allowing governments, telecommunications operators, financial institutions and energy companies to acquire and operate computing systems domestically.
Africa’s digital economy is projected to reach $1.5 trillion by 2030, which is driving regional demand for AI-enabled services across public administration, energy and finance, the parties say.
However, advanced cloud and AI processing capabilities have historically remained concentrated within a small number of external providers. The partnership seeks to establish locally anchored infrastructure, enabling domestic organisations to retain control over data and digital sovereignty.
Under the agreement, Amini will drive local market engagement and deployment, leveraging its existing platforms for locally anchored data capacity.
Foxconn will provide specialised hardware, server architecture and modular data centre technologies in its first dedicated infrastructure initiative focused on African markets.
Bull integrates its expertise in high-performance computing, quantum computing and emerging-market digital capacity. By operating independent systems, critical national sectors can bypass reliance on external platform architectures.
Financial entities can deploy independent credit, risk assessment and financial inclusion algorithms, while energy providers can implement localised machine learning for predictive maintenance and national grid optimisation.
“AI is becoming foundational infrastructure for every economy, yet most of the world still lacks the compute capacity required to participate on its own terms,” said Kate Kallot, founder and CEO of Amini. “This partnership ensures that Africa and the Global South can acquire, own and operate AI infrastructure locally, with sovereignty and long-term economic value at its core.”
Alexandre Jouys, chief commercial officer and head of Southern Europe, Middle East and Africa at Bull, added that Africa and more generally the Global South have the potential to emerge as a global-scale AI hub, by continuing to build regional computing capacity and supply chain independence.
The organizing committee of the 2026 Nigeria DigitalSENSE Forum (NDSF) on Internet Governance for Development (IG4D) is proud to announce Dr. Olusola Teniola as the Chairman for this year’s landmark event.
A seasoned leader with over 32 years of global experience in the telecommunications and technology sectors, Dr. Teniola brings a wealth of strategic expertise to the forum.
The Convener of NDSF and Group Executive Editor, ITREALMS Media group, Ogbuefi Remmy Nweke, welcomed the appointment, noting that Dr. Teniola’s leadership comes at a pivotal time for Nigeria’s digital economy.
Dr. Teniola currently serves as the Director of Strategic Business Initiatives at ipNX Nigeria, where he leads market expansion across West and Central Africa.
His recent contributions as a Digital Development Consultant to the World Bank Group for the May 2025 Country Private Sector Diagnostic report further underscore the high-level expertise he brings to the 2026 forum.
Dr. Teniola’s career is defined by high-impact leadership and infrastructure development:
- He previously served as COO for Oodua Infraco Resource Limited, overseeing the deployment of 870km of digital infrastructure in Southwest Nigeria.
- He is the past President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) and succeeded Dr. Ernest Ndukwe as the National Coordinator for the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4ai).
- His background includes executive roles at global giants such as British Telecom, Vodafone, Cisco Inc, and Alcatel-Lucent Technologies.
- He has been a vital contributor to the Nigerian Broadband Plan (2012-2013 and 2020-2025) and currently serves on the IPv6 Council.
Dr. Teniola holds a B.Eng (Hons) in Computer & Information Engineering from South Bank University, an MBA from the University of Bath School of Management, and an Honorary Doctorate (DBA) from Prowess University.
He is a Fellow of the MSME Institute of Management & Professional Studies and a member of the Chartered Institute of Directors (IoD) Nigeria.
Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says ongoing investments and regulatory interventions in the telecommunications sector are expected to address persistent quality of service challenges across the country.
NCC
In a statement signed by the Head of Public Affairs, Nnenna Ukoha, on Wednesday, the commission acknowledged public concerns over dropped calls, slow internet speeds, unstable data services and service disruptions affecting consumers.
The commission said telecommunications services had become central to work, education, business, access to essential services and social connectivity, adding that consumers deserved reliable services and value for money.
According to the NCC, improving quality of service has remained a major regulatory priority over the past two years.
It said the commission had intensified monitoring of Mobile Network Operators, Internet Service Providers and Tower Companies, while strengthening data-driven oversight and stakeholder engagement to address structural challenges affecting service delivery.
The commission disclosed that the sector was undergoing one of its largest network expansion and modernisation phases in recent years following a prolonged period of under-investment.
It said Mobile Network Operators invested more than N2.13 trillion in network infrastructure and upgrades in 2025, while Tower Companies invested an additional N373.8 billion.
According to the NCC, the investments supported the addition and upgrade of more than 2,800 telecommunications sites nationwide to improve network coverage and capacity.
The commission said interventions included deployment of additional 4G and 5G infrastructure, fibre backhaul expansion, targeted deployments in high-demand urban areas, expansion into underserved communities and equipment upgrades.
It added that operators had committed to adding or upgrading more than 12,000 sites in 2026, with nearly 3,000 already completed.
The NCC also said over 730 additional 5G sites had been deployed across 27 states in 2026.
The commission noted that 4G penetration rose from 45 per cent in January 2024 to 54 per cent currently, while national median download speeds improved from 16.5Mbps to 20Mbps within the same period.
It further said power availability at telecom towers improved from a national average of 99.3 per cent in January 2025 to 99.7 per cent.
According to the commission, spectrum reallocation among major operators and spectrum block rearrangements were also being implemented to improve network efficiency and service performance.
The NCC, however, acknowledged persistent external challenges affecting service quality, including vandalism, theft of telecom equipment, fibre cuts, power disruptions and access denial for maintenance.
It disclosed that more than 27,000 avoidable fibre-cut incidents linked mainly to road construction and vandalism were recorded in 2025.
The commission said it was collaborating with the Office of the National Security Adviser and other stakeholders to implement the Presidential Order on Critical National Information Infrastructure.
It added that operators had been mandated to notify consumers of major service outages promptly and restore services within specified timeframes.
The NCC said enforcement of the updated Quality of Service Regulations 2024 commenced in November 2025, including consumer compensation measures for poor service quality and additional investment obligations on Tower Companies.
It warned that regulatory action would continue against operators that fail to deliver measurable improvements.
The commission reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring affordable, reliable and high-quality telecommunications services for all Nigerians.
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