By Vaughan O’Grady
Bayobab wins national long-distance operator licence in Nigeria
Pan-African digital connectivity solutions company Bayobab Group has announced that it has been granted a national long-distance operator licence by the regulatory authorities in Nigeria. Bayobab’s subsidiary in Nigeria is now empowered to facilitate long-distance traffic.
This licence, says Bayobab, ushers in a new era of connectivity that is essential to meeting the surging demand for data within the country’s borders.
Although details of timing and rollout have yet to be revealed, the company is clearly upbeat about its prospects in this market. It points out that the adoption of digital services by governments, businesses and consumers is fundamentally reshaping daily life in Nigeria. Mobile technology is playing an instrumental role in the nation’s economy, where mobile broadband is the predominant means of internet access.
Nigeria, it continues, is recognised as Africa’s largest ICT market, accounting for about 82% of the continent’s telecom subscribers and 29% of its internet usage. Bayobab says that, in alignment with the Fibre Ambitions Policy set forth by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), its subsidiary, Bayobab Nigeria, is poised to make significant contributions towards shaping this transformative landscape.
It’s been a busy year for Bayobab. Among a number of recent announcements, there was July’s contract to manage, operate and maintain national fibre infrastructure in the Central African Republic. In May it signed a partnership alongside infrastructure investment platform Africa50 to develop Project East2West, a terrestrial fibre optic cable network connecting the eastern shores of Africa to those on the west.
