Telecom
Market Imbalance Bane of Broadband Progress in Nigeria– Willsher

Matthew Willsher, chief executive officer of Etisalat Nigeria has once again urged the Federal Ministry of Communications Technology and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to put in place policy and regulatory interventions to address challenges affecting broadband development in Nigeria.
In a paper presented at the 2015 Commonwealth Broadband Forum in Abuja recently, Willsher identified the current situation where most of the telecommunication sector revenues and profits go to one operator while others struggle to survive, as being largely responsible for the broadband investment deficit and resultant low broadband penetration in Nigeria.
Willsher stated that, the presence of several struggling operators, many of whom are barely active, in an industry the size of Nigeria’s, is indicative of serious underlying issues with value distribution across the industry.
“This”, he noted, “is highlighted by the concentration of 70% industry EBITDA and probably all of the industry’s net profit in one operator to the detriment of the rest of the industry.”
Nigeria, he observed, has underperformed in the area of broadband development in comparison to its peers.
“Nigeria’s mobile broadband penetration stands at 10.1% while the average for peer countries in Africa is 30%.
Peer countries have an average Smartphone penetration of 26% while Nigeria’s Smartphone penetration averages 12%,’ he said.
He called for tailor-made regulations to enable unprofitable operators compete more favourably in order to attract a greater share of the currently lopsided value in the industry.
According to him, “it is perfectly normal to have asymmetric regulation in a market where one operator holds the sort of market share and significant market power – and pertinent to ask is whether Nigeria can learn from the success of other markets in restricting dominant players in the interests of the industry and the country at large”.
The Etisala CEO opined that if struggling operators can extract a better share of industry value, they are more likely to increase their broadband investment which will drive broadband development in Nigeria.
He also identified inadequate spectrum to support broadband deployment as a key challenge in the provision of broadband services in Nigeria.
“Mobile broadband is clearly Nigeria’s best route towards achieving its broadband coverage objectives given the high cost associated with fixed broadband. The most valuable coverage spectrum is underutilized with the sub-optimal use of the 800MHz spectrum and the delays being experienced in the freeing up of the 700MHz spectrum. Clearly, Nigeria will be unable to meet the June 17th 2015 deadline set by the ITU to migrate from analogue to digital broadcasting,” Willsher said.
He further identified the recent devaluation of the naira and difficulties with sourcing foreign exchange to fund equipment purchases as another key challenge affecting not just broadband development but the telecommunications industry as a whole.
According to him, “the recent closure, by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), of the Wholesale and Retail Dutch Auction windows, where telecommunications operators would previously have sourced foreign exchange to fund equipment purchases at lower rates has forced operators to source foreign exchange at significantly higher rates through the interbank foreign exchange market which is mostly unable to meet demand. Moreover with very high cost of borrowing in Nigeria, funding capital investment from long term instruments adds as much as 30% to the purchase price.”
Willsher called on all stakeholders to take necessary action to ensure that Nigeria’s broadband is developed to its full potential.
This is, he noted, is imperative as studies show that broadband has the potential to drive GDP growth in excess of N400bn between 2014 and 2018.
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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