By Adedapo Adesanya
Top telecommunication giant, Airtel Africa, has purchased an additional 10MHz spectrum in the 900MHz band which will see it increase its services across Nigeria following approval by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
This was made known in a public disclosure to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday.
Initially scheduled to cost around $70 million from the disclosure, the total cost of the spectrum amounted to $94 million. The statement from Airtel Africa went further to note that the sum was in line with the NCC Spectrum Trading Guidelines.
According to the company, with the purchase of the extra band, there will be improvements to its voice call quality and internet coverage as well as create more opportunities for its data, home broadband, and digital services.
With the new extension, Airtel will be able to roll out a better 4G experience while efficiently managing its capex spending on the network.
The company operates a single radio access network, RAN and majority of its sites already support the activation of the additional 10 MHz spectrum of 900 MHz.
In addition, this will enable Airtel Africa to expand its fixed wireless broadband offering.
According to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Airtel Africa Plc, Mr Raghunath Mandava, “With increasing smartphone penetration, data usage and a young growing population, Nigeria represents a significant growth opportunity in data.
“This investment will not only strengthen our leading 4G position in mobile data but also allow us to expand our fixed wireless broadband offer to support the government agenda for faster broadband services with improved coverage and availability.
“At Airtel Africa, we are committed to further strengthen our spectrum portfolio when there is a clear growth opportunity and this investment demonstrates our commitment to invest, at the right price, to continue to drive our business forward.”
Aduragbemi Omiyale