Airtel deploys most fibre cables in two years

Airtel deployed 3,303 kilometres of fibre cables on land in 2021, the most it has done since 2019 and the largest deployment by any telecom operator in the industry.

The Airtel deployment was solely responsible for the growth in fibre deployment the industry recorded in 2021. The number of fibre cables deployed on land rose to 47,128.7 in 2021 from 43,898.8.

While MTN remains the number-one operator with the network of fibre on land deployed at 14,612, it has not added a single kilometre of fibre on land since 2019. MTN now risks losing its top position to Airtel, which currently boasts 14,454 kilometres of fibre cables after adding 3,303km.

Experts say MTN’s drought in investment could be because it sold off base station assets to IHS Towers. IHS has acquired over 9,000 towers from the telecom operator and manages most of its assets in other African countries as well. With the assets now under IHS and the tower company investing heavily in other assets around the emerging market, this could account for why new fibre cable projects on land are not being added.

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Like MTN, 9Mobile and nTel have also been silent on fibre deployment, with both accounting for 4,650km and 180km respectively. The two companies have not deployed any new kilometre of fibre since 2017.

9Mobile and nTel have also not made any improvement in other critical infrastructure segments such as microwave radio. Microwave internet describes an internet connection delivered over the last mile by a high-capacity microwave radio link. According to the NCC, about 90 percent of communication in Nigeria is delivered via microwave radio.

While the industry deployed a total of 290,626km of microwave radio links by December 2021 compared to 289,424.99km, 9Mobile and nTel made no contribution to the growth. In 2021, 9Mobile had 48,958km of microwave radio deployed the same figure it has had since 2017. nTel’s microwave assets declined in 2021 to 4,534 from 4,554 in 2020.

By December 2021 the Mobile Operators deployed a total of 290,626km of Microwave Radio Links as against the 289,424.99 KM of Microwave Radio Links reported for 2020. This is an increment of 0.41 percent.

9Mobile and nTel are also absent as contributors to the total submarine fibre deployment in kilometres which grew to 27,818.3km compared to 25,128km in 2020 representing an increase of 10.7 percent within the year.

Globacom, the third-largest telecom operator, saw a decline in kilometres of fibre on land deployed to 13,233 in 2021 from 13,306 in 2020. This is a dip below the number of fibre cables the company owned in 2019. It deployed 51km of fibre in 2020 to bring the total asset to 13,306.

A source close to the company told BusinessDay that Globacom’s fibre asset decline could be due to decommissioning or vandalism. Also, the decline may also be a result of road construction across the country which often leads to the destruction of fibre cables.

Nigeria needs three times more fibre infrastructure than it currently has to reach the National Broadband Plan target set for 2025. To meet the target, the country requires roughly between 120,000 and 167,000km of fibre infrastructure, which is estimated to cost about $3.4 billion.