Open Access Fabric (OAfabric), Africa-led interconnection platform is now live and operational in both Nigeria (OADC Lagos) and the DRC (OADC Texaf – Kinshasa), providing businesses with the ability to overcome many of the structural barriers that have long held back digital transformation across the region.

Open Access Data Centres (OADC), Africa’s truly open-access and carrier-neutral data centre operator, said for too long, organisations have faced real constraints, including:

• Limited access to international and local content
• High internet transit costs
• Latency and inconsistent network performance
• Gaps in local infrastructure such as colocation space, power and cooling
• Costly compute environments, bandwidth and cloud services
• Security, data sovereignty and regulatory complexity

OAfabric’s next-generation, open-access and collaborative digital platform is purpose-built to solve these challenges. Instead of just adding more infrastructure, it transforms how businesses, cloud platforms and content providers interconnect. It simplifies and accelerates digital exchange by removing the complexity, delays and fragmentation that have long hindered growth.

For example, if you struggle to deliver consistent user experiences due to unreliable or expensive international routes, OAfabric will enable direct, low-latency on-ramp peering with global and local cloud and content providers, helping to reduce transit costs and improve performance.

If regulatory challenges or data sovereignty concerns are restricting cloud adoption in your sector, OAfabric offers compliant interconnection pathways that keep your data local, secure and under your control.

If the lack of local digital ecosystems is restricting your ability to scale or launch services, OAfabric offers a solution. It creates open, carrier-neutral environments where networks, content providers, cloud platforms and enterprises can interconnect quickly and affordably, making market expansion faster and more efficient.

“We designed OAfabric around the real challenges African businesses face,” said Dr Ayotunde Coker, Chief Executive Officer of OADC. “It is about solving problems – reducing the cost to compute, improving performance, unlocking access to cloud and content, and creating an environment where companies can scale with confidence while accelerating time to market.”

OAfabric empowers businesses to overcome long-standing digital limitations, replacing complexity with simplicity, cost with value and fragmentation with integration.

Whether you are a telco seeking more resilient regional interconnection, an enterprise facing latency and performance challenges, or a cloud platform in need of trusted, scalable access into African markets, OAfabric makes what was once difficult, expensive or out of reach now possible.

“OAfabric is not just infrastructure; it represents a shift in what is possible for Africa’s digital economy,” added Dr Coker. “By removing barriers and enabling seamless, high-performance peering between key ecosystems, including local and global Internet Exchange Points (IXPs), content providers, cloud platforms and enterprises, it provides the frictionless interconnection needed to access digital services more efficiently.”

Looking ahead, OAfabric will deliver enhanced access to cloud ecosystems and international content. Expansion into new African markets is also planned to extend the platform’s reach and boost digital growth across the continent.

Federal Competition & Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has barred Peachville Platinum Facility Management (PPF

M) Limited from forcing its services on members of the Peachville Estate Residents Association (PERA), Abuja.

The agency ordered PPFM to “cease and desist from enforcing any clause that compels residents or allottees to subscribe to PPFM’s services as a condition for property ownership or occupancy”.

FCCPC further directed the company to “desist from any acts of coercion or service disconnection arising from residents’ refusal to engage PPFM’s services.”

It ordered PPFM to “immediately provide PERA and all affected residents with a clear statement of all service charges levied from August 2024 to date, with an explanation of the basis and justification for each.”

The company is also directed to “acknowledge PERA as the representative body of the Peachville Estate community for all matters of collective interest, consistent with Nigerian law,” and to “take necessary steps to amend its service engagement model to comply with the provisions of the FCCPA, 2018.”

The company and its executive director and/or affiliates “shall comply with this order within seven business days of receiving this notice,” FCCPC ordered.

“Take Notice that if the Executive Director, Peachvillc Platinum Limited of Plot 844 Jabi — Airport Road, Dakibiyu District, Abuja and/or affiliates fail to comply with this Notice, the Commission shall have recourse to Section 150 (4) of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act, 2018,” the agency added.

A copy of the FCCPC Compliance Notice, addressed to the PPFM Executive Director, was obtained yesterday.

It was signed by  Chizenum Nsitem, head of Legal Services, and dated August 12, 2025.

FCCPC acted on a consumer complaint from PERA against PPFM regarding allegations of “coercive and anticompetitive imposition of PPFM as a mandatory facility manager, unjustified service charges, and failure to deliver satisfactory services, including power, water, security, and internet access”.

The agency stated that the complaint was received on August 8, 2024, following which it engaged both parties in mediation and correspondence between August 2024 and February 2025.

FCCPC said: “PPFM gave assurances to address the deficiencies identified by residents but failed to fully resolve the substantive issues, especially those concerning forced service tie-ins, accountability, and residents’ freedom of choice.

“Between March and May 2025, the Commission received repeated complaints from PERA detailing PPFM’s continued enforcement of a service regime alleged to violate competition law principles and consumer rights.

“Despite further inquiries and an official request issued in April 2025 for clarifications on service charges and PERA’s legal status, PPFM failed to provide any justification for the price increases, denied PERA’s authority and reportedly resorted to coercive tactics, including disconnection threats, against dissenting residents.

“The Commission considers this conduct a direct violation of Section 59 of the FCCPA 2018, which prohibits restrictive and anti-competitive agreements.

“The requirement that residents must accept PPFM’s services as a precondition for property acquisition constitutes a ‘tying arrangement,’ which is specifically disallowed under the Act.

“Furthermore, the Commission found that the continued imposition of nonnegotiable service terms, opaque billing, and lack of performance monitoring amounted to unfair, unreasonable, and unjust contract terms, contrary to Sections 127-129 of the FCCPA 2018.

“PPFM’s attempt to deny PERA’s legal standing was also found to be unsubstantiated.

“The Commission notes that PERA is duly registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission, and in line with the Supreme Court’s decision in Famakinwa v. Oloja Estate Residents Association [20161 LPELR-41066 (SC), a residents’ association may lawfully represent all residents in a community, regardless of individual membership.

“By the provisions of Section 155 of the FCCPA 2018, ‘except where otherwise provided for in this Act, any person who contravenes any consumer right commits an offence and in the case of a natural person, liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years, or to payment of fine not exceeding N10,000,000.00 or to both the fine and imprisonment; in the case of a body corporate, is liable on conviction to a fine of not less than N100,000,000.00 or 10 per cent of its turnover in the preceding business year, whichever is higher; and in the case of a body corporate, each director of the body corporate is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years, or to payment of fine not exceeding N10,000,000.00 or to both the fine and imprisonment.”

Vitel Wireless, Nigeria’s first Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) has entered into partnership with Slot Systems Limited for distribution of its SIM cards and other gadgets around the country.

Chudi Nwabueze, managing director, Vitel Wireless who described the partnership as a defining moment for his company said Vitel Wireles’s purpose is clear: to transform connectivity in Nigeria  through innovation, affordability, and seamless access.

Nwabueze, who spoke in Lagos recently at the official engagement with Slot said Vitel Wireless, as the nation’s first Mobile Virtual Network Operator is committed to creating smart, reliable  solutions that break down barriers to communication and make it easier and more cost-effective for people to stay connected anytime, anywhere.

“This partnership with SLOT is a meeting of shared values and vision. By combining our innovative mobile services with SLOT’s extensive retail presence,  we are making Vitel Wireless SIM cards and the connectivity they offer more accessible than ever before. Customers will now be able to purchase, register, and  top-up their SIM cards conveniently within their own communities.”

He described the  collaboration as more than just distribution, ”it is about empowering  people. It is about bridging the connectivity gap with technology, accessibility, and affordability at the heart of everything we do.”

Nwabueze further explained Vitel Wireless SIM card is a location technology awareness card. It can track whereabouts of a person. This information can help the police, on official demand, in case of unfortunate incident.

He said the disadvantages of tracking a person’s whereabout outweighs the advantages.

He explained that access code is given to another person for tracking.

“We operate as a core network and we have integrated with all the major networks in Nigeria, including international calls. So, on a simple language, we are a GSM company, that you do call, SMS, data and we offer more value like safety. And the  good news is that we are spread out in the 36 States plus Abuja FCT in Nigeria.