By In order to safeguard investments and ensure quality service to subscribers, one of Nigeria’s leading telecommunications service provider, Airtel Nigeria, has appealed to the Federal Government through the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to protect telecommunications equipment just like other national infrastructure are protected by law.
Mr. Rajan Swaroop, the CEO and Managing Director of Airtel Nigeria, made the call recently when the company mark its one year of operations in Nigeria. He said due to persistent damage to telecom fibres along the expressways and roads in the country and the rate at which telecoms equipment are being vandalize, Nigeria should make an effort to nationally secure telecommunications infrastructure for the benefit of all stakeholders.
He stated that various parties including those working on roads, do extensive damage to telecom infrastructure daily which affect network and it takes a while to discover where the damage happened. Therefore, Nigeria as a country needs to take it as a national priority in protecting this infrastructure.
Swaroop also revealed that the company has increased its investment profile in Nigeria from an initial US$600m to over US$1billion, to meet the challenges and opportunities of the Nigerian market in the first 18 months of its operations, noting that challenges are being discovered as they trail the path.
“As we stated on arrival, Nigeria is the biggest market in Africa, which in turn is the only telecommunications market region that is still grossly underserved. We have made significant investment and are still making as we seek to strengthen the network we inherited, make it more robust and expand coverage especially to the rural communities”.
On data infrastructure and service, Swaroop said Airtel would excite the market with its offerings, affirming that while the four submarine cable systems entering Nigeria have the capacity to meet the needs of Nigerians, they should watch out for the next 12 months and expect more exciting stuff coming out of Airtel.
