The Nigerian Communications Commission has granted Airtel Nigeria Telesonic Limited, a subsidiary of Airtel Africa, three telecom licences.
According to information obtained from the NCC’s website on Tuesday, the licences include National Long Distance, Internet Service Provider, and Sales & Installation Major licences.
These licences will enable Airtel Nigeria Telesonic to expand its fibre network and provide robust and scalable infrastructure to support the growing demand for data services in Nigeria.
“The companies listed below are those that have paid their license fees in full and have collected their license documents for the respective telecommunications undertaking before the era of reclassification of licenses into class and individual licenses,” the telecom regulator stated.
According to the NCC, the National Long Distance license, valid for 20 years, will be effective from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2044, granting the operator the authority to establish and maintain networks that facilitate long-distance communications, encompassing voice, data, and video services, exclusively within Nigeria.
Meanwhile, the Internet Service Provider and Sales & Installation Major licenses have a five-year validity period, commencing on July 1, 2024, and expiring on June 30, 2029, the information on the website showed.
The President f the National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers, Adeolu Ogungbanjo, described the development as a positive step towards enhancing competition in the telecommunications market.
“This is a good development. The more licenses granted, the more we will have competition in the market. And when operators start to roll out their services, it will improve quality, and subscribers will obviously enjoy that,” Ogungbanjo told The PUNCH.
He expressed optimism that the new licences would lead to improved service delivery, increased coverage, and better value for subscribers.
In February, Airtel Africa launched Airtel Nigeria Telesonic Limited, a wholesale fibre arm of the telco, in a move to revolutionise the continent’s data market.
This development followed the December 2023 launch of Nxtra, a new data centre business built on the success of Airtel’s Tier 3 data centre in Lagos, opened in 2022.
During the launch of Telesonic, the Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Africa, Segun Ogunsanya, stated that Africa is undoubtedly undergoing a digital revolution, marked by a significant increase in demand for data centres across various sectors, particularly among the continent’s growing youth population.
He further mentioned that their goal is to address the digital divide and create opportunities for innovation and economic growth through robust and scalable infrastructure.
Currently, Nigeria has about 35,000 kilometers of fiber optic cables but aims to extend this by an additional 90,000 kilometers to enhance connectivity and digital inclusion.
This initiative is part of a broader strategy to connect all 774 local government areas and significantly increase broadband penetration, targeting 70 per cent by 2025, according to the country’s Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy.