Longtime telecommunications giant rivals, MTN and Airtel, inked an agreement on Wednesday, allowing them to share a phone network infrastructure, in the West African country of Nigeria and the East African country of Uganda.
This deal is in light of the increasing demand for digital services, given the rapid rate of tech adoption in Africa and smartphone penetration.
Additionally, the expensive cost of establishing and running building networks, including the high-tech 5G service, is partly the reason why these two competitors have decided to partner together.
“There are opportunities within regulatory frameworks for sharing resources to drive higher (operational) efficiencies and improve returns,” MTN Group CEO Ralph Mupita said in a statement.
As reported by Reuters, Sunil Taldar, CEO of Airtel Africa, noted that the deal will forestall costly infrastructure from being duplicated.
Operators can broaden network coverage faster by sharing infrastructure, particularly in rural or sparsely inhabited areas where maintaining separate networks may not be financially feasible.
What MTN and Airtel said
Following the conclusion of the deal in both countries, MTN and Airtel Africa noted that they will look at interest in more regions such as Congo-Brazzaville, Rwanda, and Zambia.
Both parties highlighted that the deals under discussion include radio access network sharing, which accounts for the majority of the cost of network implementation and management; commercial and technical agreements for fiber infrastructure sharing; and, if necessary, fiber network building.
“This engagement does not preclude the parties from collaborating with other operators in any respective market,” the companies said.
Seunmanuel Faleye is a brand and communications strategist. He is a covert writer and an overt creative head. He publishes Apple’s Bite International Magazine.
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