Airtel Africa to Invest $1.1bn for Network Expansion across Africa

Jessica Erobomhan

The Chief Executive Officer, Airtel Africa, Sunil Kumar Taldar, has said that the company has earmarked $1.1 billion for expansion and upgrade of its network across its operations in Africa.

Taldar, who disclosed this while speaking on Arise News’ Global Business Report, explained that the company has already increased its spending from about $120 million to $390 million across 14 markets and in Nigeria, which is its biggest market. He added that the telecoms company’s investment has almost doubled over the years.

“We’ve significantly stepped up our capital investment from about $120 million to $390 million at an overall Africa level. In Nigeria, our capital investment has doubled significantly, and we see this investment as paramount for network expansion and upgrade to enhance customer experience on our network,” Taldar said.

He noted that only about half of the population in Airtel’s markets currently uses telecom services or smartphones, leaving substantial room for growth.

Data consumption, according to him, is rising by more than 50 per cent as more people rely on the internet for work, education, healthcare and entertainment.

Taldar identified unreliable electricity and vandalism of telecoms infrastructure as the industry’s two biggest operational challenges, adding that most of the company’s base stations still operate on diesel generators, because of inconsistent national power supply. 

According to him, running on diesel costs almost four times more than using grid electricity, and explained that in Nigeria, diesel prices have risen sharply from about N900 to N1,800 per litre in recent months. “Telecoms’ network and power are two sides of the same economic equation, and that’s one challenge that we need to solve,” he said