Telecom
Huawei Places Nigeria on Short-term Radar for its Data Centre Offering

Multinational ICT firm Huawei has officially launched its AI-integrated public Cloud offering for Africa at AfricaCom 2018 in Cape Town, South Africa and confirmed the data centre will be located in Johannesburg to offer comprehensive cloud services in early 2019.
In early November 2018 Huawei issued a statement announcing its intention to launch its first public cloud data centre in Africa.
According to Huawei, ‘globally its cloud business unit Huawei Cloud has introduced over 120 cloud services in 18 categories and cover 60+ general solutions including SAP, high-performance computing (HPC), Internet of Things (IOT), security and DevOps’.
Edward Deng, Vice President, Huawei Cloud, confirmed the immediate strategy is to focus on increasing regional presence in South Africa before moving on to other countries in Africa – with Nigeria firmly on the short-term radar.
Deng said Huawei’s strategy is to positioning cloud to help Africa build a fully connected, digital Africa, and specifically offer cloud with AI “to make Africa’s cities and industries more intelligent”.
Huawei Cloud will offer a full stack of AII solutions and the company believes its offering is differentiated from competition by being “ultra-fast and ultra-simple.”
However, executives stressed that the company’s focus is on the customer and “not on market competition.”
Deng said that like it did with mobile technology, the continent has another opportunity to leapfrog with cloud services.
The company predicts that globally, 85% of enterprise applications will be deployed to the cloud by 2025.
“It’s a great opportunity for us here in Africa,” said Deng, highlighting that cloud will offer a new way for enterprises to adopt applications and leverage a model that offers cost saving, speed to market and security.
If cloud is the ‘aircraft runway’, technologies like AI, IOT and 5G represents the engine, he added.
Robert Nkuna, Director General at South Africa’s Department of Telecommunications & Postal Services (DTPS), said Huawei’s Africa cloud launch is a timely contribution to South Africa’s digital transformation process.
Nkuna cited several current and scheduled projects that the country’s government has prioritised, including the release- and licensing of high demand radio frequency spectrum (in 600MHz, 700MHz and 800MHz frequencies) and this process is “at an advanced stage” and will likely be concluded at the beginning of 2019.
In addition to infrastructure roll out, the DTPS has earmarked the country’s 5G readiness and the development of this ecosystem, as well as preparation for the 5G Symposium planned for next year.
Along with South Africa’s participation at the World Radio Conference, the country will press ahead with the formation of a Digital Industrial Revolution Commission, incorporating the private sector and civil society, to take advantage of advances in ICT, as announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Telecom
PAT Taps Osi as CEO

Pan African Towers (PAT), a Nigerian infrastructure provider serving 9mobile and Spectranet, has appointed Echezona Osi as chief executive officer.

Echezona Osi
Adefolarin Ogunsanya, company’s, board chairman, explained in a statement that Osi would succeed Oladipo Badru, whose tenure lasted nine months in acting CEO position. Osi has more than 28 years of experience in the telecommunications sector across various regions of Africa.
Prior to his appointment as CEO, he had served as the head of network deployment at Airtel Nigeria, operations director and chief technical information officer at MIC Tanzania, chief technology officer roles at IPT PowerTech Nigeria, Rhino Niger Networks and Biswal Nigeria.
He obtained a degree in electrical/ electronic engineering from the University of Benin and a postgraduate diploma in data science and business analytics from the University of Texas.
Telecom
NCC Introduces N10m Licence Fee for Bulk SMS Service

Companies sending bulk international text messages, also known as Application-to-Person (A2P) messages, will now have apply for a licence that costs N10 million.
This is part of new rules introduced by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) aimed at cleaning up the system, fighting fraud, blocking spam messages and stopping money from leaving the country unchecked.
These A2P messages are the kind customers get from banks, online stores, hospitals and political campaigns, automated texts sent from apps to their phones.
According to the commission, the bulk international text message system has been poorly regulated, allowing misuse and invasion of privacy.
“The International SMS Service Ecosystem in Nigeria has not been fully brought under regulatory control. It has been observed that the excessive use of the Short Message Service has led to fraud, spam and illegal activities,” the NCC said.
The regulator warned that without action, the problem would worsen as more people use mobile phones and digital services.
To solve this, the NCC is creating a central platform, or gateway, through which all international bulk text messages must pass through.
The agency said this would help to monitor messages in real time, ensure proper fees are paid, and make sure the money stays in Nigeria where it can contribute to the economy.
As part of the incoming change, service providers must follow strict rules, including strong data protection, spam filters, and message encryption.
Also, they must also work with local mobile networks and make sure all messages come from a verified sender
The NCC warned that any message without a proper sender ID will be blocked and not delivered to users.
To protect users from unwanted texts, the new rules say companies must get clear permission before sending any promotional content.
The rule also says people must also be able to choose whether they want to receive such messages or not.
Companies are now required to keep records of all messages for at least six months and must clearly state all charges involved.
The NCC said fees for help requests, cancellations, or service info must be transparent and not include hidden charges.
The commission will issue licences to several providers to encourage healthy competition but may limit new licences if needed.
Only companies that show they can stop fraud and safely deliver messages will be allowed to operate. They must also regularly report their message traffic and finances to the NCC.
It warned that any company that breaks the rules risks getting fined, suspended, or having its licence revoked.
Offences like charging illegal tariffs, ignoring security rules, or avoiding taxes will be punished, the NCC said.
The commission added that the new rules follow the Nigerian Data Protection Act 2023 and support the federal government’s goal of strengthening cybersecurity and controlling Nigeria’s digital space.
The framework will also be reviewed from time to time to keep up with new technology and market trends.
Telecom
MTN Nigeria Targets $1Bn Cloud Market with Largest Modular Data Centre

MTN Nigeria has launched what it claims is the country’s largest prefabricated modular data centre, marking a bold push into the country’s fast-growing cloud market and taking aim at global giants such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

Karl Toriola, CEO, MTN Nigeria.
The shift comes as demand for cloud services in Nigeria soars — driven by the uptake of mobile apps, fintech tools and e-learning platforms — while foreign providers have become costlier in the wake of the naira’s sharp devaluation.
“This is one of the biggest data centres in West Africa and probably one of the biggest in Africa,” said Karl Toriola, CEO, MTN Nigeria.
He described the new Tier III-certified facility, with locally hosted cloud services, as “transformative for the technology ecosystem in Nigeria and very supportive of the federal government’s agenda”.
MTN Nigeria, the country’s largest telecoms provider, has so far invested $120m in the first phase, delivering an IT load of 4.5MW. A second phase, set to double capacity to 9MW, is budgeted at $135m.
“We already have data centres that are running our existing capacities,” Toriola said.
“We will go to 9MW in short order, possibly 14MW, and we can expand even further.”
He said the facility would allow local hosting for tech developers, large enterprises including banks and oil companies, and government agencies — markets long dominated by foreign cloud providers.
“Multinational companies such as Netflix, Facebook and Instagram can also host a lot of their data here. That improves the quality of service and reduces the cost of storage,” he added.
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