January 2025

Nigeria’s telecom tariff hike enables $150M investment, expands 4G, boosts digital access, and supports AI, IoT, and economic growth initiatives.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has approved a 50% tariff increase for mobile network operators, marking a pivotal moment in Nigeria’s digital transformation. This decision, the first tariff adjustment in 12 years, is set to unlock substantial investment in telecommunications infrastructure, increasing 4G coverage to 94% of the population and enabling mobile internet access for an additional 9 million people, with 2 million people in under served areas.

The GSMA, a global advocate for sustainable policy reforms in the telecommunications sector, welcomes this decision as a major step forward for consumers and the economy. By enabling mobile operators to invest in expanding and upgrading their networks, the tariff increase will bridge the digital divide and drive innovation across key sectors, including healthcare, education, and agriculture.

This decision by the NCC is an important milestone for Nigeria’s digital future. By enabling sustainable investment, we are improving the quality of service for consumers and fostering opportunities for innovation and economic growth. However, to fully unlock the potential of this reform, it is critical to implement additional measures such as simplifying Right of Way permits, implementing of a Critical National Infrastructure plan, and reducing the mobile sector’s tax burden. These steps will be essential to accelerate digital adoption across sectors. It is estimated that increased digitalisation in agriculture, manufacturing, transport, trade and government will increase GDP by around two percentage points by 2028. This would also create nearly 2 million jobs and raise an additional NGN 1.6 trillion in tax revenue.

– Angela Wamola, Head Sub-Saharan Africa, GSMA

Expected Coverage and Mobile Internet Adoption

The tariff increase is projected to unlock over $150 million in additional investment, expanding 4G network coverage from the baseline 90% to 94% of the population. This improvement will benefit around 9 million people, with nearly 2 million expected to gain access to mobile internet services based on current adoption levels in rural areas, according to GSMA Intelligence.

This milestone reflects the successful partnership between the Nigerian government, industry stakeholders, and the GSMA, demonstrating how collaborative policy reforms can drive economic development and digital inclusion. By advocating for policies that balance affordability with the need for sustained investment in infrastructure, the GSMA has played a critical role in ensuring the benefits of mobile connectivity are accessible to all Nigerians.

Improved network coverage will enable transformative access to digital services, including online education, telemedicine, e-commerce, and mobile financial tools. Additionally, the investment will drive the adoption of next-generation technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT), which are essential for advancing innovation across sectors like precision agriculture, connected transportation, and smart healthcare. By fostering the adoption of these technologies, Nigeria is positioning itself as a leader in Africa’s digital economy.

A Call for Further Policy Reforms

While the tariff increase is a significant step forward, the GSMA calls for further policy actions to amplify its impact. These priorities, outlined in the recent GSMA report The Role of Mobile Technology in Driving the Digital Economy in Nigeria, include:

• Streamlining Right of Way (RoW) permits: Simplify and standardise the process to accelerate infrastructure deployment.
• Implementing Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) legislation: Safeguard essential telecommunications assets to ensure resilience and reliability.
• Reducing the tax burden on the mobile sector: Address high taxation to encourage further investment in infrastructure.

These recommendations are based on successes in other Sub-Saharan African markets, such as Kenya and South Africa, where similar policy reforms have proven effective in driving digital inclusion and fostering economic growth.

The GSMA remains committed to supporting the government, regulators, and industry stakeholders to implement these measures.

Source: Akim Benamara (tech africanews.com)

Vodafone Group has unveiled a new satellite connectivity service designed to eliminate coverage blackspots across its footprint.

As part of a demonstration ahead of its commercial launch, the operator conducted what it claimed to be the first space-based video call between standard 4G/5G smartphones.

Vodafone engineer Rowan Chesmer placed the call from a remote location in Wales, using AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird LEO satellites to connect with Vodafone Group CEO Margherita Della Valle. Both were using Google Pixel 9 Pro smartphones.

Vodafone aims to be the first operator to offer a commercial direct-to-broadband satellite service, with an initial launch in Europe in 2025 and further coverage expansion across the continent in 2026.

Della Valle said: “This will help to close the digital divide, supporting people from all corners of Europe to keep in touch with family and friends, or work, as well as ensuring reliable rural connectivity in an emergency.”

AST SpaceMobile founder, chairman, and CEO Abel Avellan added: “This latest achievement using our BlueBird satellites takes us one step closer to our mission to eliminate connectivity gaps and make cellular broadband accessible to all.”

Developing Telecoms enquired about potential deployments in Vodafone’s developing markets but received no further details.

Vodafone operates in several emerging markets where coverage gaps remain due to the high cost of infrastructure deployment. Given the revenue potential from unconnected users, it could be argued that accelerating this technology in Africa should be a priority.

According to the GSMA, around 680 million people in Africa remain unconnected, with Sub-Saharan Africa experiencing the largest usage gap.

Source: Manny Pham (Developing Telecoms)

Telecel Ghana’s chief executive, Ing. Patricia Obo-Nai has addressed a high-level gathering of CEO and global leaders at the 2025 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on the role of artificial intelligence (AI) as a catalyst for sustainability.

The high-profile panel session, organised by Leaders on Purpose & Reuters@ on the theme, AI as a Catalyst for Sustainability explored the potential of AI in driving sustainable growth and transforming industries.

In the conversation moderated by climate, environment and conflict analyst, Nazanine Moshiri, Ing. Obo-Nai shared multiple examples of how AI is transforming connectivity in emerging markets and helping Telecel Ghana optimise its operations while maintaining a focus on environmental and societal impact.

“It is important that we adopt technological enhancements that make us more efficient while protecting the environment in which we operate. We also need to ensure that we are building businesses that are fit for the future. If we build an organization that doesn’t take care of its environment and society then that business will not survive long term.”

Ing. Obo-Nai shared insights into how the connectivity industry can leverage AI to enhance network efficiency and improve customer experience, but most importantly, ensuring these advancements are sustainable.

“The use of AI to predict when maintenance is due, predict hardware failures and reduce service disruptions means less operational challenges, less movement of engineers across sites, efficient energy management leading to less carbon emissions, hence protecting our environment. AI can help to determine locations where we can deploy solar systems as we move to more renewable energy sources.”

Telecel Ghana has incorporated AI to create personalised data and voice packages for customers, regardless of their socio-economic status, furthering inclusivity. Additionally, through the Telecel Foundation’s Connected Learning programme, AI is also being used to introduce over 20,000 children to digital technologies, including robotics, empowering future generations with the skills necessary to thrive in the AI-driven economy.

As part of the conversation about how businesses can thrive amid growing global challenges, Ing. Obo-Nai stressed the importance of building ‘future-fit’ companies.

“To build a resilient business, it’s critical that we meet the needs of today without compromising the future. We need to focus on climate change, resource conservation, and social equity. If society and the environment fail, businesses will fail too.”

Together with other speakers including Andy Poppink, CEO of JLL Global Markets and Mary de Wysocki, Chief Sustainability Officer of Cisco, the discussions explored how technology, sustainability, and equity intersect in shaping the future of the global economy.

Source: Telecel Ghana

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) opened separate investigations into Apple and Google to assess both companies’ mobile ecosystems, taking aim at OSes, app stores and browsers.

In a statement, the UK regulator explained the probes will explore whether the duo’s mobile activities should be subject to tougher scrutiny, looking into the impact on people who use the platforms and on developers which create apps and services.

The CMA stated it would assess the extent of competition within both mobile ecosystems; what barriers may be in place to prevent competitors from offering rival products; Apple and Google’s market power in favouring their own apps and services; and if the two companies are providing fair terms to app developers.

The probe is the second to fall under the new Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act, which came into force this month and allows the CMA to designate a small group of companies as having “strategic market status”.

Last week, it opened its first case under the act against Google over its search and advertising practices.

Sarah Cardell, chief executive of the CMA, said OSes, apps and browsers act as a gateway to the digital world, and more competitive mobile ecosystems “could foster new innovations and new opportunities across a range of services”.

Interested parties can submit comments before 12 February and the CMA plans to complete the investigation by 22 October.

More than two years ago, the CMA launched a separate investigation into Apple and Google’s mobile web browsers and cloud gaming activities, after finding they were hampering competition.

Source: Mobile World Live

Google struck a deal to acquire a part of HTC’s extended reality (XR) unit for $250 million, adding to a $1.1 billion purchase of a portion of the Taiwanese company’s smartphone business in 2017.

In a short announcement, Google explained it was “accelerating the Android XR platform” through the agreement, after investing in the technology for more than a decade.

As part of the deal, an undisclosed number of HTC Vive’s engineering team will move over to Google, working with its team to expand the XR platform across the headset and glasses ecosystem.

The pair stated they will also explore additional collaboration opportunities.

HTC’s VP and general counsel, Lu Chia-te, told Reuters it had granted IP rights to Google as a non-exclusive licence, and it retained the ability to use it and “even develop it without any restrictions”.

The deal, which is expected to close before the end of Q1, marks the second major tie-up between the companies.

Google announced a deal to acquire HTC’s R&D team that developed the Pixel smartphone line eight years ago. As part of the deal, around 4,000 HTC staff joined Google.

Source: Mobile World Live