Airtel Africa has announced an agreement between its Nigerian wireless unit and Intercellular Nigeria to acquire an additional 10MHz of spectrum in the 900MHz band for USD70 million.
The group says the deal will allow Airtel Nigeria to expand and strengthen its LTE network across the country. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
While speaking on the new deal, CEO of Airtel Africa, Raghunath Mandava said ‘Data is a key pillar of our growth strategy, driven by increasing 4G networks and supported by the increased affordability and increasing penetration of smartphones, with an overall smartphone penetration of more than 35% and data consumption growing by 92% in the six month period ended 30 September 2019, Nigeria presents a significant growth opportunity in data.
The acquisition of this spectrum will enable us to further deliver on this growth opportunity and continue to offer our Nigerian customers an enhanced user experience.’