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Fresh Headaches for Rural Telephony Project

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The inability of ministry of Communications Technology to secure certificate of concurrence from the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) is delaying the conclusion of the National Rural Telephony Project (NRTP) meant to provide telecommunications services to the rural dwellers and communities, Nigeria CommunicationsWeek has learnt.

The certificate of concurrence or so-called certificate of no objection will mean that ICRC- the national governing body for public private partnership (PPP) processes is in agreement with the move to hand over the project to new investors.

Also, Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) another government agency this time responsible for harmonizing the existing government policies and practices by regulating, setting standards and developing the legal framework and professional capacity for public procurement in Nigeria has also insisted on certificate of concurrence before it can seek approval from the federal executive council.

Engr. John Ayodele, director, Posts and Telecommunications in the ministry of Communications Technology, told Nigeria CommunicationsWeek, that the ministry is desirous to conclude the transaction.

Ayodele said that the delay in securing the certificate from ICRC was due to the recent change in the management of the commission.

He stated that with the inauguration a new board, the ministry hopes to secure the certificate from the ICRC soon.

Ayodele, said that ICRC had earlier refused to give the ministry certificate of concurrence, arguing that the transaction was carried out before the commission was established which makes it difficult to evaluate the project.

Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that the National Rural Telephony Project, the little successful $200 million project was conceived in 2001 to take telephony services to the rural areas.

The project has however been caught in a web of confusion, claims and counter charges with fingers pointing left and right.

Apart from the certificate of no objection; paucity of funds as well as nonchalant attitude of government and her supervising agencies have also conspired to hobble the project.

The project, inaugurated under former President Obasanjo’s first term in office, was to cover 218 Local Government Areas (LGA) in the first phase and provide over 636,256 Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), lines in the 774 LGAs and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in the second phase to bridge the digital divide between the urban and rural areas.

Three Chinese companies– ZTE Corporation, Huawei and Shagai Bell – were awarded the contract at the sum of $200 million.

The Federal Government had borrowed the above amount from the China Export and Import (EXIM) Bank, while it provided 15 per cent counterpart funding of N5 billion for the execution of the project.

Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that the Chinese companies failed to deliver on the project prompting the federal government to transfer the first phase of the project to five indigenous telecommunications companies namely: Key Communications Limited, Suburban Broadband Limited, Voicewares Network Limited, Gicell Wireless Limited and Hezonic Limited.

In the new arrangement, Key Communications won the Ibadan Zone with a $38 million bid, while Suburban Broadband bid with $140.5 million to manage the Federal Capital Territory and Kaduna zones.

Voiceware Networks bid with $30 million to manage the Enugu Zone, while Hezonic and Gicell Wireless bid with $30 million and $20 million to manage Enugu and Bauchi.

They were to build, operate and maintain (BOM) the project in different zones under the model of a Lease, Operate and Own (LOO) framework.

They were supposed to operate the networks for a period of 10 years within which they would pay a specified amount of money to the government.

But the contractors are yet to commence work some four years after the contract was awarded.

Irked by the development, the House of Representatives recently mandated its committee on Communications to find out issues delaying the full take of the project.

Engr. Gerry Ekesiani, chief executive officer, Voicewares Networks Limited, one of the operators of the project that won the contract to operate South-east and Benue exchange, said that stakeholders including: operators and ministry of Communications Technology have engaged in meetings in order to resolve outstanding issues that are delaying full take off of the project.

“We are working progressively. If all parties keep to our agreement, operators of NRTP will be able to roll out service this year,” he said.

Voicewares Networks boss stated that continued delay of the project is jeopardizing full realization of the project, adding that the 800MGH frequency allocated to them is no longer suitable for delivery of broadband and that had it being that the project has taken off the current plan by Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to license 2.3Ghz spectrum would have been an opportunity for them to upgrade to 2.3Ghz.

He explained that 2.3Ghz is robust for broadband service delivery which NRTP is designed for.

Ekesiani added that the continued delay in the rollout of services is causing Association of Rural Telephony Operators of Nigeria (ARTON) financial losses while the equipment have become object of vandals and thieves.

He also warned that the equipment may become obsolete by the time the final approval is obtained as CDMA 2000 1x technology installed for the project is a legacy.
 


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Airtel Money Africa Partners pawaPay for Seamless International Remittances Across Africa

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Airtel Money Africa, Airtel Africa’s mobile money arm, announced an extended partnership with Africa’s largest mobile money payment service provider (PSP) pawaPay to enable seamless cross-border payments for licensed International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs) across seven key Airtel Africa markets.

This collaboration officially launches pawaPay’s service for inbound remittances into Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia, Malawi, Gabon, Congo Brazzaville, and Tanzania. The partnership allows IMTOs to efficiently deliver funds globally directly to recipients’ more than 161 million Airtel Money customers wallets, leveraging pawaPay’s renowned reliability, scalability, and 99.9% platform uptime.

Building on five years of trusted collaboration in domestic mobile money, this expansion strengthens and simplifies Airtel Money Africa’s backend processes, using pawaPay’s robust payment service provider infrastructure, which processes over four million transactions daily.

Airtel Money Africa CEO, Ian Ferrao, said: “We’re pleased to expand our partnership with pawaPay to advance international remittances across Africa. Their proven reliability and commitment to African consumers make them an ideal partner. This integration empowers International Money Transfer Operators to securely connect with Airtel Money’s growing footprint, delivering real-time payments that support financial inclusion and economic growth.”

pawaPay CEO, Nikolai Barnwell, said: “Our mission is to simplify payments for businesses in Africa, and remittances are pivotal. Deepening our relationship with Airtel Money allows International Money Transfer Operators to leverage our world-class infrastructure for seamless cross-border payments.”

Remittances remain critical for millions of Africans, enabling family support, entrepreneurship, and financial inclusion. This partnership ensures secure, instant mobile wallet transactions, key to advancing Africa’s digital economy. pawaPay will extend this capability to additional Airtel Money Africa markets in coming months.


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Rubrik Joins Forces with Sophos to Reinvent M365 Recovery

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Rubrik, the cybersecurity company, and Sophos, a global leader of innovative security solutions for defeating cyberattacks, have announced a strategic partnership to provide Sophos M365 Backup and Recovery Powered by Rubrik.

This marks the first Managed Detection and Response (MDR)-optimized Microsoft 365 backup and recovery solution fully integrated into Sophos Central, Sophos’ security operations platform.

Designed to support IT and cybersecurity teams, the new offering will provide a unified global platform to enhance cyber resilience against ransomware, account compromise, insider threats, and data loss in SharePoint, Exchange, OneDrive, and Teams.

“We are reshaping what it means to stay operational in a world shaped by constant digital disruption,” said Joe Levy, CEO, Sophos. “This is the future of cyber resilience: an intelligent, adaptive partnership that ensures organizations remain secure, responsive, and uninterrupted. By combining Sophos’ prevention-first approach with Rubrik’s unwavering recovery capabilities, we empower businesses to withstand attacks and maintain continuity, even under pressure.”

Sophos will offer a powerful new add-on solution for its more than 75,000 MDR and XDR customers, enabling fast, secure recovery of critical Microsoft 365 data in the event of accidental deletion or malicious compromise.

This solution integrates Rubrik’s industry-leading SaaS-based protection directly into the trusted Sophos Central platform, giving organizations the flexibility to enhance their existing security operations with robust data recovery capabilities.

The Sophos Central platform integrates over 350 different telemetry sources across endpoint, cloud, network, identity, email and business applications. The platform leverages deep learning, custom LLMs, and frontier models to detect and respond to threats across the entire attack surface, enhancing defense effectiveness.

“The reality of today’s threat landscape demands a holistic approach to cyber resilience,” said Bipul Sinha, CEO, Chairman, and Co-founder of Rubrik. “With AI-enabled attacks and sophisticated breaches on the rise, organizations need more than just prevention; they need the ability to recover rapidly and reliably. Our partnership with Sophos delivers this critical capability directly within a platform security teams already use and trust, raising the bar for Microsoft 365 resilience.”

The Evolving Threat Landscape

According to The State of Ransomware report by Sophos, nearly half of organizations impacted by ransomware chose to pay the ransom to recover their data. Despite this, only 54% of affected companies relied on backups for data restoration, highlighting a continued gap in effective cyber resilience practices.

Recent research highlights the urgent need for robust Microsoft 365 data protection: 60% of Microsoft 365 tenants have experienced account takeovers, a frequent launchpad for lateral movement within an organization, and 81% have encountered email compromise.

When global admin credentials are compromised, attackers can manipulate retention settings and permanently delete critical business data.

Existing tools were not designed for comprehensive, large-scale recovery, which requires speed, granularity, and reliability for rapid restoration.

Sophos MDR and XDR customers will benefit from:

  • Secure, immutable backups: Rubrik will isolate Microsoft 365 backups with air-gapped storage, WORM locks, and customer-held encryption keys. Multifactor authentication and data lock prevent tampering, even with compromised credentials.
  • Fast, flexible recovery: Customers will be able to restore Microsoft 365 emails, OneDrives, SharePoint sites, Teams channels, and more to original or alternate users, including inactive accounts.
  • Automated protection: Rubrik will automatically discover Microsoft 365 users, sites, and mailboxes, applies Entra ID-based policies, and supports delegated admin – all integrated with Sophos Central to reduce manual effort.
  • Unified experience: Microsoft 365 protection and security operations will be managed via Sophos Central with no extra tools.

Rubrik and Sophos’ shared commitment to helping organizations operate with confidence in the face of risk, will provide Sophos customers and partners with a powerful solution to recover with speed and precision when threats inevitably break through.

This offering will be available through Sophos’ channel partner network in the coming months.


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MTN Nigeria Rolls Out Network-as-a-Service and Signs First MVNO to Drive Industry Efficiency

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MTN Nigeria is deepening its role as an industry enabler with the launch of its Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) platform and the signing of its first Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) agreement, Chief Financial Officer Modupe Kadri revealed on Monday.

Speaking in an exclusive Channels TV interview, Kadri confirmed that MTN has opened its network to T2 (formerly 9Mobile) under the NaaS framework approved by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). This allows T2 subscribers to roam seamlessly on MTN’s infrastructure while retaining their own customer relationships and branding.

“Network-as-a-Service is a platform where MNOs can roam within the NCC framework on MTN’s network,” Kadri explained. “It makes the industry more efficient in the utilisation of scarce resources.”

Kadri also announced MTN’s first MVNO partnership, with the virtual operator set to go live soon. MVNOs lease network capacity from established mobile operators, enabling them to offer services without investing in costly infrastructure.

These initiatives align with NCC’s push for infrastructure sharing to boost sector efficiency and coverage. By providing network access to smaller players, MTN is positioning itself as a critical enabler of market expansion.

The Nigerian telecom industry, valued at $10.8 billion, now reaches 169 million active phone lines and over 142 million internet subscribers. While competition remains intense, the trend toward infrastructure sharing is expected to lower barriers to entry for new service providers, increase service quality, and expand access in underserved areas.

“As MTN, we are here to help the industry survive,” Kadri said. “It makes it much easier when you see other operators willing to come on and provide quality services to Nigerians, which we all deserve.”

Industry analysts view the move as a strategic diversification for MTN. With voice revenues plateauing and data driving growth, shared network models offer new revenue streams and a hedge against market saturation.

MTN’s investments in NaaS and MVNO partnerships are part of its broader transformation strategy, which also includes cost optimisation, forex risk reduction, and targeted capital expenditure to strengthen network quality.


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