Airtel Nigeria has reiterated its commitment to boosting Fifth Generation Network (5G) connectivity in Nigeria, even as it plans to roll out more 5G sites across Nigeria.
Presently, Airtel Nigeria has inaugurated the 5G in Lagos, Rivers, Ogun and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, with over 200 5G Sites, across these states.
Airtel Nigeria director of Marketing, Ismail Adeshina, who made the announcement at a Media Roundtable in Lagos, said Airtel is investing heavily in 5G infrastructure including towers, base stations and spectrum licences.
“Airtel is investing heavily in 5G infrastructure, including towers, base stations, and spectrum licences, to provide widespread 5G coverage across Nigeria. We are actively collaborating with technology partners, device manufacturers, and local businesses to explore and develop innovative 5G use cases, such as IoT applications and smart city solutions,” Adeshina added.
While responding to a concern of one of the Journalists who questioned if 4G will be affected following the 5G focus, he said “Every Airtel site is a 2G, 3G and 4G site. 5G deployment will not affect any of these, especially because the deployment is prioritised based on used cases and the need.”
The director, Corporate Communications and CSR, Airtel Nigeria, Femi Adeniran, while delivering his welcome remark, expressed gratitude to the media guest, adding that the roundtable is a platform for Airtel to bring the media partners up to speed on the activities of Airtel Nigeria, considering their role as vital stakeholders and consistent supporters of Airtel as a business.
“We have had several events that have brought us together in the past months, but we thought it is important to have a closer community discussion. The essence of this event is to have a good time together while we give you an understanding of what is currently going on in Airtel.”
Speaking at the event, director, Airtel Business, Ogo Ofomata, revealed activities that Airtel Business has been up to in terms of providing data and cloud management solutions to both SMEs and government agencies.
“Airtel realised that the buying behaviour of the private sector is different from the public sector, so this year, we created a special public sector event to showcase how their various parastatals can be upgraded to become more reliable. It was important to showcase to the public sector how their bulky data could be well managed. We had about 46 government agencies represented, to show that we were listening to the needs of the government on the digitization agenda,” she said.
Head of B2B Sales, Smartcash PSB, Judith Osiobe, also discussed the recently launched Smartcash international remittance service, revealing that this service is to ensure financial inclusion on a global scale.
“We recently launched the Smart Cash Remittance Service that offers competitive tariffs compared to traditional means. Customers can simply activate this service by opening an account with an existing mobile number by simply dialling *939# or downloading the app to activate an account. Smartcash is here to stay, and we are changing lives and making financial services accessible for everyone. We are also proud to say that we have the best and cheapest rate in the market when it comes to sorting utility bills on our payment service app.”
