Telecom
TD Africa Records Another First with Huawei EBG 4-Star CSP Certification
TD Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa’s leading technology, lifestyle and solutions distribution giant, has again blazed the trail, beating other multinationals in the West African region to obtain the much-coveted Huawei Enterprise Business Group (EBG) 4-Star Certified Service Partner (CSP) Certification for Internet Protocol (IP)andInformation Technology Networking.
With the certification, TD Africa has become the first and only technology distribution company to obtain the certification in West Africa, especially in Nigeria and Ghana, West Africa’s leading technology markets.
The certification comes with lots of good news for TD partners in the region, says Foluso Olulade, the company’s Head of Marketing, who explained that TD Africa is already working assiduously to obtain the Huawei EBG 5-Star CSP certification, the zenith of the certification sphere.
“Our aim is to attain a 5-Star CSP in IT, IP and Cloud Collaboration. So far, we have attained 4-Star CSP for IP network and IT, while we have a 3-Star CSP for Cloud Collaboration,” Olulade said.
Mr. Kenneth Ogugua, Huawei Business Enterprise Unit Manager at TD Africa, hinted that with the new certification, TD Africa has been empowered to offer a 360-degreebouquet of services to partners, starting from sales to implementation and maintenance of IP and IT networking protocols.
Ogugua said: “This certification means that TD Africa is qualified to carry out some implementations on onsite.
“This is applicable to co-care, which simply means services sold by Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs)such as Huawei, but implemented by technology distribution companies, represented by TD Africa in this instance.
“Therefore, our engineers can go to sites to install servers, networking systems, among other solutions for our plethora of partners.
“The importance of this certification is that it gives TD Africa an edge over other distributors. When it comes to quotation for co-care services, TD Africa can definitely count on more discounts from Huawei, which will surely rub off on our partners. Therefore, our 4-Star status improves our service orientation.
‘‘It is a plus for TD Africa, our partners, as well as the IP and IT networking markets in the West African sub-region. TD Africa boasts further leverage with a functional post-sales team, which others can hardly muster.
“Equally important, this certification represents a boost for TD partners. It means they do not need to sublet their implementation services to third-parties.
“TD Africa can do a full a bouquet, meaning if our partners want the equipment, we can deliver these, and if they want installations, we will gladly do so and even maintain such installations, for the next three years, if they so desire.
“Please note also that this scenario will save our partners the stress of searching for partners to play in these three stages of solution orientations. In fact, it will save our partners from the temptation of utilizing the services of their competitors to maintain their installations.
“For us at TD Africa, this is a win-win situation for our partners, as many of them have been looking forward to this day, when a single technology company, with the might of TD Africa, will have the bandwidth to take up entire projects from supplying solutions to installing and maintaining such solutions, thereby saving our partners the headache and risks associated with using non-trusted sources,” he disclosed.
With over two decades of sterling performance to its name, TD Africa remains the leading tech distribution giant in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The company, which pioneered the current four-tier market structure which brought sanity to the industry, has won a number of local and international awards for its outstanding leadership.
Federal government has unveiled an ambitious plan to deploy 7,000 telecommunications towers across the country, with 80 per cent allocated to Northern Nigeria to address the region’s acute connectivity deficit.
The federal executive council had already approved the 7,000 towers project by March 2025 to support digital transformation and 5G rollout, with formal rollout scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2025.
The project’s first tower will be installed next week in a rural Abuja community of 5,000, where insecurity compounds connectivity challenges.
Unlike conventional masts, these towers will double as digital hubs, providing internet to schools, hospitals, and local government offices.
“Most of these clusters are in the North. That’s the reality. There are a few clusters in the South-West, you know, that are not connected, but the bulk of the clusters are in the North, Bosun Tijani, minister of Communications and Digital Economy, told TVC recently.
He continued, “So, almost 80% of these towers will be going towards filling that gap in the North. The rest will now patch up where we have left off.
“Unlike traditional telecom masts, they will deliver internet to local schools, hospitals, and government offices, maximising their impact. Wherever we put them, we use the same infrastructure to serve the community.”
Tijani highlighted a collaborative model where mobile network operators will connect to the towers’ cables, reducing redundancy and optimising resources.
Nigeria’s digital landscape remains uneven.
As of January 2025, 128.3 million Nigerians, 54.3 per cent of the population, lack internet access, ranking the country fourth globally for unconnected populations.
Broadband penetration stands at 48 per cent, with over 50 per cent of Nigerians living there, facing significant barriers, including unreliable electricity and low digital literacy.
Progress has been made, with the number of people in unserved and underserved areas falling from 36.8 million in 2013 to 23 million in early 2025, yet the connectivity gap remains a formidable challenge.
The 7,000-tower initiative, distinct from the separate Project 774, forms part of a broader strategy that includes satellite technology, such as Starlink, and fibre-optic cables, which Tijani described as the backbone of reliable connectivity in advanced markets.
The government’s focus on the North reflects the region’s disproportionate share of unconnected communities, while the project’s design aims to address both digital and security challenges.
Engr. Ikechukwu Nnamani, CEO of Digital Realty, West Africa’s leading interconnected data center facility, has been recognized for his outstanding contributions to Nigeria’s digital economy and the broader African ICT landscape.
L-R: Mr. Ken Nwogbo, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of CommunicationsWeek Media, Editor Engr. Ikechukwu Nnamani, CEO of Digital Realty and Dr. Muhammed Rudman, Chief Executive Officer, Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN) at the 2025 Africa’s Beacon of ICT (ABoICT) Merit and Leadership Awards, organized by Communications Week media.
At a ceremony in Lagos, Nnamani was named among the Top 50 Most Valuable Personalities in Nigeria’s Digital Economy by KnowHow Media.
According to the organizers, this recognition reflects his unwavering commitment to innovation within Africa’s tech ecosystem.
Segun Oruame, Vice-Chairman of KnowHow Media, emphasized Nnamani’s significant impact on Nigeria’s ICT landscape, highlighting his role in advancing the country’s digital economy.
Adding to his accolades, Nnamani was also honored with the ICT Growth Impact Award in Data Centre Infrastructure at Africa’s Beacon of ICT (ABoICT) Merit and Leadership Awards, hosted by Nigeria Communications Week.
This award acknowledges his instrumental role in developing telecom and ICT infrastructure across multiple African nations, including Ghana, Togo, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Kenya, Uganda, and Angola.
Expressing gratitude for the recognitions, Nnamani dedicated the awards to his team at Digital Realty, acknowledging their continuous support.
He reaffirmed his commitment to fostering industry growth and driving innovation across Africa.
Telecom
SBTS Group CEO Evelyn Lewis Named Among Nigeria’s Top 50 Digital Economy Leaders for Youth-Focused Tech Initiatives
Evelyn A. Lewis, CEO of SBTS Group, has been named one of Nigeria’s “50 Most Valuable Personalities in the Digital Economy” by IT Edge News.Africa, recognizing his visionary leadership in digital transformation, innovation, and youth empowerment.
Presented during the “Nigeria: State of the Digital Economy 2025” colloquium and awards ceremony in Lagos, the recognition highlights Lewis’s role in shaping Nigeria’s digital future. The high-profile event, organized by Knowhow Media (publishers of IT Edge News.Africa), brought together top policymakers, digital innovators, and ecosystem enablers across public and private sectors.
At the center of Lewis’s recognition is his commitment to building Africa’s digital economy through skills and job creation. Under his leadership, SBTS Group—in collaboration with the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI)—is implementing an ambitious plan to:
- Train 5 million Nigerian youths
- Create 50,000 digital jobs by 2030
This initiative aligns with Nigeria’s National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) and the Federal Government’s 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) program.
SBTS Group’s proprietary Intelligent Capacity Building Model (ICBM), developed under Lewis’s leadership, is at the core of this effort. The model closes the gap between digital training and employment, offering career-focused tracks in:
- Cybersecurity
- Software Development
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)
- Digital Entrepreneurship
ICBM is currently being rolled out across DBI campuses nationwide, forming a scalable framework for skills development.
SBTS and DBI will kick off the next phase of their national rollout with new training and BPO centres in Abuja and Enugu, scheduled for launch in June 2025. These centers are expected to create over 5,000 jobs in their first phase, acting as blueprints for replicable, sustainable digital employment hubs nationwide.
Beyond training, SBTS has also built a national unified digital learning and registration platform for DBI. The system integrates national identity tools such as NIN and BVN, supports student sponsorships, facilitates enterprise partnerships, and enables career tracking—laying a foundation for a data-driven, transparent digital skills ecosystem.
“This award reaffirms our commitment to building Africa’s digital economy from within,” said Evelyn Lewis. “At SBTS Group, we believe that human capital is Africa’s greatest asset. By empowering our youth, we’re investing in a future where Africa leads in innovation and competitiveness.”
The 50 Most Valuable Personalities (50MVPs) initiative annually celebrates visionary leaders accelerating Nigeria’s digital transformation. The 2025 edition recognized contributors across tech, governance, and entrepreneurship under the theme:
“Accelerating Nigeria’s Digital Transformation: Insights on Challenges and Emerging Opportunities.”
Other 2025 honourees include:
- Obadare Peter Adewale, CVO, Digital Encode
- Nentawe Yilwatda, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs & Poverty Reduction
- Ayọ̀wándé Àdalémọ, CEO, Wave5Wireless
- Krishnan Ranganath, Regional Executive, West Africa & Morocco – Africa Data Centres (ADC)
- Ike Nnamani, CEO, Digital Realty
- Daser David, President/CEO, Digital Bridge Institute
- Suleiman Isah, Commissioner for Communications Technology & Digital Economy
- Shuaibu Kabir Bello, CEO, KMDC
- Olawole Owoeye, Co-founder, Cedarview Communications
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