MTN, Airtel Africa Cut Costs, To Expand Network Reach

In a strategic move to optimise costs and expand coverage, MTN Group and Airtel Africa have signed agreements to share network infrastructure in Uganda and Nigeria.

The collaboration is expected to reduce duplication of resources, improve operational efficiency, and accelerate access to digital and financial services across both countries.

With mobile operators facing increasing pressure to expand coverage while managing costs, network sharing has become a key strategy in the industry.

By pooling infrastructure, MTN and Airtel Africa can extend services to remote and underserved areas more efficiently, avoiding the high expenses associated with building and maintaining separate networks.

MTN Group President and Chief Executive Officer, Ralph Mupita, in a press statement, released on Wednesday, said operators on the continent were seeing sustained demand for data services.

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“At MTN, we are driven by the vision of delivering digital solutions that drive Africa’s progress. We continue to see strong structural demand for digital and financial services across our markets. To meet this demand, we continue to invest in coverage and capacity to ensure high-quality connectivity for our customers. That said, there are opportunities within regulatory frameworks for sharing resources to drive higher efficiencies and improve returns,” Mupita stated.

Airtel Africa Chief Executive Officer, Sunil Taldar said: “As we compete fiercely in the market on the strength of our brand, services and our offerings we are building common infrastructure, with in the permissible regulatory framework, to provide a more robust and extensive digital highway to drive digital and financial inclusion at the same time avoiding duplication of expensive infrastructure to drive operational efficiencies and benefits for our customers”.

The initiative is part of a growing global trend toward network sharing. By collaborating, telecoms operators can explore innovative and pro-competitive solutions to improve service quality while managing costs more effectively. The sharing of infrastructure has the potential to enable the delivery of world-class, reliable mobile services to more and more customers across Africa.

Following the conclusion of agreements in Uganda and Nigeria, MTN and Airtel Africa are exploring various opportunities in other markets, including Congo-Brazzaville, Rwanda and Zambia.

Among the types of agreements considered are RAN sharing and those aimed at establishing commercial and technical agreements for fibre infrastructure sharing and, if necessary, the construction of fibre networks.

MTN Group and Airtel Africa are dedicated to working with other mobile operators within the countries in which they have a presence to achieve the advantages of network sharing.

Throughout this process, the parties will continue to function as independent market entities and will compete freely in shared markets.

This engagement does not preclude the parties from collaborating with other operators in any respective market.