Airtel Africa has revealed plans to invest $1.1 billion to expand and upgrade its network infrastructure across its African operations, as the telecoms giant moves to improve service quality and meet rising demand for data.
The company’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Sunil Kumar Taldar, disclosed this during an interview on TV recently, noting that Airtel has significantly increased its capital expenditure across its 14 markets, including Nigeria, its largest market.
Taldar said the company’s overall capital investment has risen from about $120 million to $390 million, while investment in Nigeria has also nearly doubled in recent years.
“We’ve significantly stepped up our capital investment from about $120 million to $390 million at an overall Africa level. In Nigeria, our capital investment has doubled significantly, and we see this investment as paramount for network expansion and upgrades to enhance customer experience on our network,” he said.
According to Taldar, the growth opportunity in Africa remains substantial, with only about half of the population across Airtel Africa’s markets currently using telecom services or smartphones.
He said this presents considerable room for further expansion, particularly as demand for digital services continues to grow.
Taldar added that data consumption across the company’s markets is increasing by more than 50 per cent, driven by greater reliance on the internet for work, education, healthcare and entertainment.
However, he identified unreliable electricity supply and vandalism of telecoms infrastructure as two of the biggest operational challenges facing the industry.
He said a significant number of Airtel’s base stations still rely on diesel generators because of inconsistent grid power supply.
According to the Airtel Africa CEO, operating telecom infrastructure on diesel is almost four times more expensive than using electricity from the national grid.
In Nigeria, he said, the rising cost of diesel has further increased the financial burden on telecom operators, with the price climbing from about N900 to N1,800 per litre in recent months.
“Telecoms’ network and power are two sides of the same economic equation, and that’s one challenge that we need to solve,” Taldar said.