Nigerian telecommunications firm NTEL plans to expand its wireless broadband service to more cities, including Ibadan, Abia State and Benin, as it seeks to address connectivity gaps and rebuild its network.
The company’s Chief Technology Officer, Kingsley Uwazie, said AirFibre was currently in its trial phase in Lagos and Abuja, with plans to extend the service to other locations before expanding to six additional cities and eventually 12 cities.
Uwazie, who spoke in an interview with Vanguard, said AirFibre was designed to help internet service providers deliver last-mile connectivity without the high cost of laying fibre-optic cables.
He said the service used fixed wireless technology capable of delivering speeds of up to 1.2 gigabits per second per link, with a practical deployment already covering a distance of more than nine kilometres.
According to him, laying fibre over a kilometre in Abuja could cost between N3m and N4m, making wireless broadband a potentially cheaper option for connecting businesses and communities.
NTEL is developing AirFibre as an open-access network that internet service providers can use to reach customers. The company also plans to serve some corporate clients directly.
Uwazie said NTEL was pursuing a strategy called BET, comprising Beam, Eden and Titan, to generate revenue from its existing assets and reinvest the proceeds in rebuilding its telecommunications network.
Titan focuses on telecommunications infrastructure, including towers, fibre-optic cables and ducts, while Eden covers the company’s real estate assets. Beam is its digital services business, which includes AirFibre and WakaGo, its global eSIM product.
The strategy is intended to reduce NTEL’s dependence on external funding by generating income from infrastructure sharing, fibre leasing and property partnerships.
Uwazie said the company also planned to combine fibre, mobile networks, wireless broadband and satellite services to improve connectivity, particularly in underserved and rural communities.
He added that NTEL intended to use national roaming and infrastructure sharing to extend its mobile network coverage to areas where it did not have its own infrastructure.
On network reliability, he said the company was deploying backup power options, including diesel generators, compressed natural gas, solar power, grid electricity and lithium batteries. It was also building backup transmission links to reduce service interruptions.
Beyond domestic connectivity, NTEL is promoting WakaGo, a global eSIM service designed to help Nigerians travelling abroad access mobile data without removing their regular SIM cards or buying local SIMs at their destinations.
Uwazie said the service worked on compatible phones and allowed travellers to use data for internet access and messaging while keeping their primary SIM active for regular calls.
He said WakaGo operated on a pay-as-you-go basis and was intended to provide an alternative to expensive international roaming charges.
The CTO said the company would measure its transformation by customer satisfaction, network reliability and the restoration of public trust in NTEL, formerly known as NITEL.
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