By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigerian wireless internet service provider, Tizeti, has announced the securing of an unnamed senior debt facility from Chapel Hill Denham’s Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund that will be used to finance the rollout of its state-of-the art broadband network across 15 states in Nigeria.
In a statement seen by Business Post, the company said it has been granted long-term financing by the investment company’s fund and will deploy the debt to build new internet infrastructure and purchase additional equipment to expand its services to Delta, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Abia, Anambra, Imo, Enugu, Abuja, Kano, and Kaduna.
Tizeti will be hoping to bank on its fair pricing system to win a large portion of Nigeria’s internet user base. It currently charges its customers a monthly fee starting from N12,500 for unlimited data usage and streaming.
The firm currently serves over 3 million subscribers in Nigeria (residential facilities, businesses, and hotspot users), via its wide network of solar-powered base stations in five states.
It hopes to bridge Africa’s large digital divide between the connected and the unconnected to boost parameters like employment, education, family and social life, and access to information.
More so, the World Bank reports that every 10 per cent increase in broadband penetration could lead to as much as 2.8 per cent growth in Gross Domestic Product.
Thus, partnerships such as this, therefore, play a significant role in addressing the digital infrastructure deficits in emerging economies, leveraging innovative technology and capabilities, to improve development outcomes for millions of people.
According to Mr Kendall Ananyi, Tizeti’s founder and Chief Executive Officer, “We are excited to announce the closing of this new debt facility with Nigeria’s largest infrastructure debt fund. We see tremendous opportunity for domestic capital in addressing digital exclusion barriers in Nigeria and this partnership will hopefully be one of many.
“We will use this to build last-mile digital infrastructure that will move internet capacity to other Nigerian states and catalyze sustained development, value creation, improved connectivity, and a deeper and wider digital inclusion net. This will also increase our coverage from five states and make us the largest internet service provider in Nigeria by coverage.”
On his part, Mr Anshul Rai, the Chief Executive Officer of NIDF, said, “Chapel Hill Denham is excited to partner with Tizeti in the expansion of fast, reliable broadband network across Nigeria. The digital economy is a key strategic pillar for Nigeria to accelerate its economic and social development, and providing access to affordable internet services is crucial to achieving the true potential of digitisation.
“We continue to work with all stakeholders to support accelerated development of digital infrastructure in Nigeria by providing access to long-term, Naira-denominated financing for such projects – thus realising the government’s vision of reaching 70 per cent broadband penetration by 2025.”
Aduragbemi Omiyale