The overwhelming response to the Nigerian Communications Commission’s offer of new Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) licences has been more than positive and can be considered a success story that positions Nigeria as one of the major economic powerhouses on the African continent.
In a few months, Nigeria will go from having four mobile operators – MTN, Globacom, Airtel and 9Mobile – to almost 30 new ones, a milestone that will revolutionise the country’s telco sector.
The strategy aims to boost competition in the mobile sector and help bring mobile telecommunications services to rural, remote and underserved areas of the country. The continent’s most populous country has more than 226 million mobile lines, representing just over 100% mobile penetration. However, on the other side of the coin, barely 60% of the population has access to mobile internet and only 4% of the population has access to 4G. It is in this scenario, undoubtedly, where MVNOs make the most sense as drivers of the mobile market.
The new MVNOs are finalising their mobile business strategies as they decide which mobile technology to operate on, inevitably thinking ahead to find a solution that allows them, on the one hand, to offer service on 4G and 5G, and at the same time, to cope with the disconnection of legacy networks.
“MVNOs will help boost the country’s economy and reduce the digital divide by bringing connectivity and mobile services to all segments and all corners of the country, creating jobs – directly and indirectly – and democratising technology with new offers and competitive prices,” says Juan Carlos Buitrago, Chief Sales Officer of JSC Ingenium, a telecommunications engineering company specialising in the creation of infrastructure and network services for mobile operators.
The figure of MVNOs thus becomes an asset for the country, which is committed to boosting the mobile industry as one of the main drivers of the economy. These new players face the exciting challenge of meeting the strong demand for mobile connectivity in the country, which in less than a year has grown by 13.33% to more than 26 million mobile lines. “Their success will depend on having a differentiating mobile business strategy, with a flexible commercial model and state-of-the-art technology that allows them to distinguish themselves in terms of value and compete on equal terms with other players in the sector,” Buitrago adds.
Technology is becoming a key element for these new MVNOs, which are no longer just looking for a turnkey solution – Core + BSS – to operate in 3G, 4G or 5G, but also for a technology partner to help them make decisions on how to grow in the future and to accompany them throughout the process.
Buitrago emphasises: “We are committed to being strategic partners of our customers. Our deployed solutions, depending on the country, support 3G, 4G and now also 5G, whether standalone, non standalone, or what is now being called advanced 5G.
“Our company strategy differentiates itself by offering a single solution to support all technologies. We are talking about a solution that is interoperable backwards, so operators no longer need to deploy multiple platforms for each of the access technologies, with the consequent cost savings that this entails. The other great advantage of our technology offering” continues Buitrago “is that our solutions are agnostic to the physical infrastructure on which they operate, supporting, in addition, any public cloud such as AWS or Azure”.
These new players face the exciting challenge of meeting the strong demand for mobile connectivity in the country, which in less than a year has grown by 13.33% to more than 26 million mobile lines
Buitrago concludes: “Our experience in launching and operating MVNOs, with more than 100 virtual ones deployed and operational and more than 500 sub-brands internationally, positions us as a reference technology vendor for these new projects. In addition to this experience, we also have a strong commitment to R&D and a strategic focus on the customer, which we believe, without a doubt, is a formula for success”.
