A significant shift is underway for Airtel Africa, poised to reorient its enterprise to better tap into Africa’s burgeoning digital sphere by the year 2024. This week brought the announcement of the initiation of Telesonic, a novel fibre wholesaler. This subsidiary is set to administrate Airtel’s vast 75,000km terrestrial fibre network across its 14 African markets, in tandem with the firm’s involvement in the pan-African submarine cable, 2Africa.
In initial steps that exemplify strategic forward planning, Airtel plans on establishing Telesonic divisions within key markets with the intention of optimising fibre network management. An array of services is in the pipeline, including national and international leased lines, dedicated internet access, IP/IP transit, and MPLS services.
“Through the creation of Airtel Africa Telesonic Limited, Airtel Africa demonstrates its commitment to tackling Africa’s digital demands by offering progressive fibre-optic solutions with the great potential to revolutionize businesses, education, healthcare, and broader community life,” stated Airtel Africa’s Group CEO, Segun Ogunsanya. “Undoubtedly, Africa is in the midst of a digital revolution, with demand for data in various sectors progressively powered by the continent’s dynamic young population. With our robust, scalable infrastructure, we aim to erase the digital divide and stimulate opportunities for innovation and economic expansion. Our investment represents not just a huge step forward technologically, but also crucial advancement, connecting people and ideas across borders.”
The formation of Telesonic marks just one of many steps the company is taking to increase its commitment to sustaining high-quality connectivity throughout the African continent. In previous months, the company revealed Nxtra, an entity set to construct and run five highly advanced data centres across Africa, with the first facility slated to begin construction in Lagos, Nigeria, in the near future, and commercial operations set to start in 2025.
Airtel is confident that the combined power of Telesonic and Nxtra will prove instrumental in establishing a robust connectivity backbone to meet Africa’s ever-growing digital needs.
