
- Nigeria’s telecom regulator approves 50% mobile tariff hikes
- The optical networking sector is back in growth mode
- Elisa aims to hire 100 AI specialists
In today’s industry news roundup: Nigeria’s mobile operators have been given permission by the country’s regulator to raise their prices by up to 50%; following a dismal year, the optical transport equipment sector is now set for five years of growth, according to the analysts at Dell’Oro Group; innovative network operator Elisa is seeking to hire 100 AI specialists in Finland and Estonia; and much more!
In response to pleas from the country’s mobile operators, Nigeria’s telecom regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has given the country’s telcos the green light to increase their tariffs by up to 50% “in response to prevailing market conditions”. As reported earlier this month, Nigeria’s operators, which hadn’t been allowed to up their rates for more than 11 years, called for permission to increase their prices by 100% in order to help them stay financially viable. The NCC noted: “The adjustment, capped at a maximum of 50% of current tariffs, though lower than the over 100% requested by some network operators, was arrived at taking into account ongoing industry reforms that will positively influence sustainability… Tariff rates have remained static since 2013, despite the increasing costs of operation faced by telecom operators. The approved adjustment is aimed at addressing the significant gap between operational costs and current tariffs while ensuring that the delivery of services to consumers is not compromised. These adjustments will support the ability of operators to continue investing in infrastructure and innovation, ultimately benefitting consumers through improved services and connectivity, including better network quality, enhanced customer service, and greater coverage. Recognising the concerns of the public, this decision was made after extensive consultations with key stakeholders across the public and private sectors. The NCC has prioritised striking a balance between protecting telecom consumers and ensuring the sustainability of the industry, including the thousands of indigenous vendors and suppliers who form a critical part of the telecommunications ecosystem. The NCC recognises the financial pressures faced by Nigerian households and businesses and remains deeply empathetic to the impact of tariff adjustments. To this end, the commission has mandated that operators implement these adjustments transparently and in a manner that is fair to consumers. Operators are also required to educate and inform the public about the new rates while demonstrating measurable improvements in service delivery.” MTN Group, the parent company of MTN Nigeria, the country’s largest mobile operator, welcomed the NCC’s decision. “This development is a significant milestone in ensuring the long-term sustainability of the telecoms industry in Nigeria, supporting the country’s critical infrastructure and services, while empowering millions of people and businesses and contributing to the country’s overall economic development,” it noted in a stock market announcement. “MTN Group and MTN Nigeria deeply appreciates the support of the NCC and other relevant authorities, as well as the industry body in Nigeria, in ensuring the telecoms sector remains sustainable in the country. The tariff adjustment represents an important step towards addressing the impacts of the prevailing economic challenges on MTN Nigeria and the industry as a whole. It will enable MTN Nigeria to maintain the critical investments required to deliver reliable, high-quality services to its customers, as well as continue to support Nigeria’s digital transformation agenda, including driving inclusive growth for all stakeholders.” The other mobile operators in Nigeria, Africa’s largest mobile market with more than 210 million connections, are Airtel Nigeria, Globalcom (aka Glo) and 9mobile. The reaction among consumers in Nigeria was, as you can imagine, less welcoming, with local media reporting that the country’s National Association of Telecoms Subscribers (NATCOMS), which had proposed that any tariff rises be kept to between 5% and 10%, threatening to take the NCC to court.
The global optical transport equipment sector is set for a rebound following a tough 2024 and is on course to grow at an average of 4% for the next five years to be worth $16bn in 2029, according to a new market forecast from Dell’Oro Group. “We believe the optical transport equipment revenue decline in 2024 was a corrective phase in the market cycle to align supply with demand,” said Jimmy Yu, an analyst and VP at Dell’Oro Group. “Typically, after taking a step back on purchases, service providers are better positioned to judge future equipment needs, creating a more positive environment for both the network operators and equipment manufacturers,” added Yu. That spells good news for the likes of Adtran, Ciena, Cisco, Huawei, Fujitsu Network Communications, Infinera, Nokia (which is in the process of acquiring Infinera) and ZTE. According to Yu, one of the fastest-growing segments will be long-haul DWDM (dense wavelength-division multiplexing) systems to support datacentre interconnect (DCI) services, which is set to grow at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12% over the next five years, driven by demand from the hyperscale datacentre operators. The analyst also noted that, while the latest, cutting-edge optical transport technology is currently capable of enabling 1.6 Tbit/s wavelengths, it is likely that 2.4 Tbit/s wavelengths will be possible by 2027.
Finnish network operator Elisa is seeking to fill 100 AI vacancies at its operations in Finland and Estonia during 2025 to support the service provider’s “ambitions and strategy to become [an] even more robust provider of digital services,” the company has announced. “Elisa already has strong expertise in network automation and in software development, including various applications such as entertainment services Elisa Viihde and Elisa Elamus,” noted Toomas Polli, Elisa’s vice president of digital services development and chief digital officer. “The key to reaching the highest level of agile maturity and value creation is to bring the development team as close to business and clients as possible. Now our end-to-end development capabilities will be further strengthened,” he added. “There is a growing demand for people who know technology and who also understand business – in other words, they are capable of seeing the business value that the code is enabling. This is emphasised at Elisa, as digital development projects have a direct impact on business operations and customers’ lives, whether they are related to network automation, service applications or streamlining customer service with the help of artificial intelligence,” stated Polli.
Digital payments and marketing technology specialist Bango, which offers telcos (and companies in other sectors) a Digital Vending Machine platform that enables the ‘super bundling’ of products and services, has shared an impressive trading update for 2024. Revenues were up 16% year on year to $53.4m, while adjusted EBITDA grew by 137% to $15.2m. During 2024, the company signed up two new Tier 2 US telco customers and two new telco customers in Asia for its Digital Vending Machine (DVM) platform, taking the total number of DVM customers to 27, up from 18 at the end of 2023. “By the end of 2024, the DVM product had established market leadership through relationships with the world’s leading subscription content providers and telcos,” stated Bango’s CEO Paul Larbey. “Underpinned by solid foundations in the payments business, and with growing DVM recurring revenue, Bango is in an excellent position to extend our market leadership during 2025, confirming the DVM as the technology of choice for subscriptions bundling.”
– The staff, TelecomTV
Email Newsletters
Sign up to receive TelecomTV's top news and videos, plus exclusive subscriber-only content direct to your inbox.