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Telecom

Smile Communications Enters Lagos Market with 4G/LTE Network

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(L-r): Kenneth Esenwah, general manager, Sales and Distribution, Tom Allen, group chief operations officer and Dr. Ernest Azudialu Obiejesi, chairman, all of Smile Communications, during the launch of the company’s 4G LTE broadband services in Lagos.
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Smile Communications has commercially launched a 4G/LTE network in West Africa in Lagos, Nigeria, promising users will enjoy an improved smartphone experience, with faster web browsing and downloads, and better network performance.

Ericsson is the primary vendor for the LTE network based on the multi-standard RBS 6000 family of base stations and AIR Antennas, MINI-LINK microwave transmission, as well as the Evolved Packet Core.

Smile Communications announced that the 4G/LTE network runs on 800 MHz spectrum in Ibadan and Lagos, both in Nigeria.

In Ibadan, commercial services were launched in February 2013, making Smile Communications the first to launch this LTE technology in West Africa.

In Lagos commercial services were launched on February 19, 2014, offering an improved mobile broadband experience based on LTE technologies to subscribers. More locations across the country will follow soon.

The primary vendor for the LTE radio network leverages the multi-standard RBS 6000 family of base stations and the compact and fully integrated AIR (Antenna Integrated Radio) Antennas, deployed in West Africa for the first time.

Ericsson is also providing a complete Evolved Packet Core network including Evolved Packet Gateway and Mobility Management Entity.

Tom Allen, Smile, group chief operating officer said, “At Smile Communications, we seek to deliver affordable, high-quality and easy-to-use broadband internet access and communications services to our customers and in Nigeria, Ericsson is helping us do this.

“With successful commercial operations since 2013, we are very excited to formally announce today the commencement of our services and the beginning of a cross-country roll-out. We are starting in Lagos and will lay our footprints in other major cities across the country shortly”.

Smile Communications and Ericsson have a 3-year network deployment agreement to develop over 1,100 LTE sites across the country.

Under the terms of this agreement, Ericsson is responsible for the project management, system integration, interoperability testing, network design and implementation.

Magnus Mchunguzi, vice president, Ericsson sub-Saharan Africa says: “With mobile data traffic estimated to grow 17 times by 2019 and Nigeria currently holding the highest number of mobile subscriptions in sub-Saharan Africa, superior network performance is imperative. As a global HSPA and LTE leader, we are committed to partnering with Smile Communications in meeting this growing demand for enriched broadband experience.”

On his part, Dr. Ernest Azudiala Obiejesi, chairman, Smile Communications, said that investors in Smile’s innovation believe in the Company’s approach to deliver affordable, high-quality and easy-to-use broadband internet access and communications services to its customers across Africa.

Founded in 2007, he added that Smile sources the best technology available in order to create the innovative solutions required to provide world-class, yet cost-effective, communications services across Africa.

Its first commercial network, which provided low-cost voice and messaging services over WiMAX technology, was launched in Kampala, Uganda in November 2009.

We are confident that Smile has the capacity to sustain the investment, especially in fulfilling the customers’ demands. “As technology improved, Smile evolved to focus on mobile broadband internet using 4G LTE technology, and it was with great pride that Smile launched Africa’s first 4G LTE broadband internet service in Tanzania, in March 2012.

“Smile’s Tanzanian customers experience 4G LTE broadband internet service in Dar es Salaam and Arusha, with Dodoma and Mwanza receiving coverage in early 2014. So that gesture is what Smile is here to replicate in Nigeria”.

The Chairman boasted that Nigerians living in Ibadan and Lagos already enjoy the country’s fastest and most reliable 4G LTE broadband internet service, brought to them by Smile.

The Company said that Abuja and Port Harcourt will follow in early 2014.

Similarly, Ericsson is the market leader in LTE. Today, 50 percent of the world’s LTE smartphone traffic is served by Ericsson networks, which is more than double the traffic of the closest competitor.

Present in all high-traffic LTE markets including the US, Japan, South Korea, Australia and Canada, Ericsson has been selected by the top 10 LTE operators, as ranked by LTE subscriptions worldwide.

 

 


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Telecom

MTN Nigeria Wins Award for Best Use of Data @MarkHack 4.0 Awards Night

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L-R: Akinbulejo Onabolu, Head, Enterprise Segment, MTN Nigeria; Eneyi Obi, Global Chief Marketing Officer, Rise; Tobi Olanisimi, Marketing Manager, AB InBev; Martha Kayode, Marketing Head, PZ Cussonz; Sulaiman Shaibu, CEO, BFT Consulting Service and Daniel Adeyemi, Managing Editor, Condia Business at the MarkHack 4.0 Conference held at the Landmark Event Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos on Friday, May 23, 2025.
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MTN Nigeria’s commitment to digital innovation took center stage at MarkHack 4.0, the annual marketing and technology conference held at Landmark Event Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, on Friday, May 23, 2025, with the theme ‘Experience Ignited: Fueling the Customer’s Journey’.

L-R: Akinbulejo Onabolu, Head, Enterprise Segment, MTN Nigeria; Eneyi Obi, Global Chief Marketing Officer, Rise; Tobi Olanisimi, Marketing Manager, AB InBev; Martha Kayode, Marketing Head, PZ Cussonz; Sulaiman Shaibu, CEO, BFT Consulting Service and Daniel Adeyemi, Managing Editor, Condia Business at the MarkHack 4.0 Conference held at the Landmark Event Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos on Friday, May 23, 2025.

In a celebration of innovation, technology, and storytelling, the company also took home the award for Best Use of Data in a Marketing Campaign at the Nigeria MarTech (MarkHack 4.0) Awards Night. This award recognizes brands that have successfully transformed data into compelling narratives and actionable insights to meaningfully engage their audiences.

Akinbulejo Onabolu, Senior Manager, Segment Management, Enterprise Business at MTN, joined a panel to discuss the power of immersive technologies on consumer behaviour. Drawing from MTN’s launch of its 5G Digital Experience Centre in Abuja last year, Onabolu highlighted the rapid evolution of immersive technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) stating “Our 5G centre is a sandbox for our customers to come and see how technology can shape things. At the launch event, we unveiled a smart city to customers, clients and dignitaries in attendance, with gaming and other tech experiences.”

On the intersection of data, AR and VR, he added: “Co-creating with MTN takes our minds to a platform where different partners, companies and creators can bring their buildings, products and businesses for people to see via augmented reality and connectivity, just swiping through and following through that journey.

“As a part of impacting our customer’s lives, a few years ago, we also played around with the Metaverse and we ended up creating some of our back-office processes with some of our customer journeys on augmented reality and virtual reality such that a customer somewhere can engage with a virtual agent to solve real life problems and integrating that back into our operating systems. As an organization, at a lot of our events, you will find a lot of AR and VR experiences.”

Speaking on how MTN is embedding immersive technology into its day-to-day operations, he explained that the company is prioritizing both internal capability development and external engagement. “85% of our organization has undergone extensive training on AI and that already is a great addition to our daily lives. We’re using it to do things differently, developing user journeys and brainstorming different things. In terms of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality, we are working with organizations to develop training programs which we use internally.”

He described the bases for this tech as stable connectivity, high bandwidth, high speed and low latency. “Over the past year, we’ve doubled our 5G capacity across the entire country. Wherever you are, you’ll probably start to pick up 5G. With our FibreX service, we’re going way beyond connectivity to create the systems and platforms to support the ecosystem, AR and VR. In addition to this, we’re also engaging regulatory systems to start to tease this out and build the proper governance.”

The session, moderated by Daniel Adeyemi, Managing Editor at Condia Business, also featured insights from leaders in FMCG, consulting, and global marketing, all underscoring the transformative potential of immersive technologies for Africa’s future.


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MTN Nigeria Invests ₦900Bn in 2025 to Boost Network Quality in Lagos & Abuja

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MTN Nigeria has announced a massive capital expenditure (CAPEX) drive for 2025, nearly doubling its investment to almost 900 billion Naira, as it seeks to significantly enhance network service quality in major cities like Lagos and Abuja and extend improvements to other areas.

 

Karl Toriola

Karl Toriola

This financial commitment, up from a combined total of approximately 440 billion Naira spent in 2023 and 2024, was detailed by MTN Nigeria CEO, Dr. Karl Toriola, during a recent interview on Arise TV.

Toriola highlighted that a key focus of the increased CAPEX will be on “putting additional capacity in a city like Lagos, particularly in Abuja, where you have a lot of buildings coming up, you need additional sites because there are coverage issues.”

Beyond these critical urban centres, the investment aims to bolster network resilience and ensure power stability for its infrastructure nationwide. This includes proactively addressing site outages by ensuring timely payment for operational necessities such as diesel for generators, a persistent challenge in the Nigerian operating environment

The CEO outlined the comprehensive nature of the upgrade process, which involves “placing orders formally, opening letters of credit, and then the equipment gets shipped in and installed.” He added that where necessary, MTN will be “acquiring new sites” and “laying fiber to the base station to create better stability.”

While the immediate CAPEX is geared towards improving existing service quality and capacity, this investment aligns with MTN’s broader goals, which include enhancing financial inclusion in underserved rural areas, suggesting a long-term vision for network expansion and service improvement that extends beyond metropolitan areas.

Customers are expected to begin experiencing the positive impact of these investments with a “significant improvement in quality of service” anticipated by the end of the second quarter or early in the third quarter of 2025, according to Toriola.


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Airtel’s AI Spam Alert Flags 9.6m Spam Attempts

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Airtel Nigeria, telecom service provider, has announced that its AI-powered Spam Alert Service issued over 9.6 million spam alerts between March 13 and May 20, 2025.

Airtel’s AI Spam Alert Flags 9.6m Spam Attempts

As part of its ongoing commitment to protecting customers from unwanted and potentially fraudulent communications, Airtel designed the AI Spam Alert service to analyze traffic patterns and detect anomalies.

In the period since launch the AI pinpointed a total of 9,667,008 SMS as potential spam messages in the two months after its launch.

Of these, the system identified 528,080 on-net (Airtel-to-Airtel) and 9,138,928 off-net (from other networks) numbers as suspected spam messages, demonstrating the scale of the threat and Airtel’s advanced processing capability.

Airtel Nigeria is a subsidiary of Airtel Africa.

Commenting on this development, Dinesh Balsingh, CEO, Airtel Nigeria, restated Airtel`s commitment to protecting its customers.

“This milestone demonstrates the strength of our AI-driven infrastructure in combating the growing menace of spam and scam calls. At Airtel Nigeria, we are focused on connecting Nigerians and ensuring their safety and confidence while using our network.

“We understand that trust is the cornerstone of digital communication. That’s why we’ve invested heavily in intelligent systems that not only detect potential threats but also learn and evolve with data. As threats become more sophisticated, so will our solutions. As a company, we remain focused on leading the industry in innovation and customer satisfaction, ensuring that every Nigerian can enjoy a safer and smarter digital experience,” Mr. Balsingh said.

The Spam Alert Service is part of Airtel Nigeria’s broader strategy to integrate artificial intelligence into its core offerings to deliver smarter and safer experiences for its customers across the country.

Recall that the Spam Alert Service was launched on March 13, 2025. A groundbreaking and free solution from Airtel, it notifies users in real-time of suspected spam SMS messages by analyzing over 250 parameters.

The Airtel AI Spam Alert Service is available to all Airtel subscribers on smartphones and feature phones.

 

 


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