Airtel Nigeria has announced of plans to lay an additional 2,000 kilometres of cable on its fibre-optic cable system currently serving nearly 20 million of its subscribers in Nigeria.
Currently, Airtel has a 4000-kilomete long cable system and following the new installation, it will have one of the highest cable penetrations in the country.
The project that will be executed in several phases even as the telco looks into expanding further its network capacity and subscriber base in the country.
“In this first phase, we will be adding over 2,000 kilometers of fibre optic cable to our network. Our efforts are paying dividends. The Nigerian Communications Commission rated us the best in March and April of 2012 when they rated networks in Nigeria.” Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Rajan Swaroop said.
Swaroop said Airtel had already doubled its capacity in Nigeria and now wants to double its subscribers after the cable expansion project.
Airtel was highly rated as the top network in Nigeria by the Nigerian Communications Commission in the first and second quarters of 2012.
A recent study by a UK-based research firm Pyramid Research showed that Nigeria’s telecommunications market is set to expand by 5.9 percent between 2011 and 2016.
The report entitled ‘Nigeria: New Ministry, Infrastructure Investments and ICT Policies Boost Market’ showed the country’s remote areas will begin to gain notice as nearly all the operators have made proposals indicating they plan to expand into the underserved areas to make headway toward achieving higher growth levels.
Airtel could be leading the pack in the countrywide expansion.
