Airtel Africa acquires $42m spectrum in Congo to expand 4G service
Airtel Africa has acquired an additional spectrum to bolster its service delivery in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). According to the company, the 58 Megahertz (MHz) spectrum spread across 900, 1800, 2100, and 2600 MHz bands, for a gross consideration of $42 million.
The company in a notice to the NGX today said the additional spectrum will support its 4G expansion in the market for both mobile data and fixed wireless home broadband capability, providing significant capacity to accommodate the continued strong data growth in the country.
Airtel Africa, which provides telecommunications and mobile money services in 14 countries across Africa including Nigeria says its licence spectrum in the 2100 band in DRC comes up for renewal in September 2032, while its other licences continue until July 2036.
What Airtel is saying
Airtel Africa in the notice to the NGX said: “DRC is the largest country by area in our portfolio and our second largest market by population. This investment reflects our continued confidence in the tremendous opportunity inherent in the DRC, supporting the local communities and economies through furthering digital inclusion and connectivity.”
What you should know
- The Group had in 2020 sealed a similar deal in Nigeria with the acquisition of 10MHz of spectrum in the 900MHz band for a total consideration of $94 million.
- Airtel had said that the additional spectrum would be used to increase the capacity of its existing network, support the further rollout of 4G, and expand its fixed-wireless broadband offering.
- The firm said the deal would also allow it to efficiently manage its CAPEX spend for 4G networks, as Airtel operates a single RAN network and the majority of its sites already support the activation of the additional spectrum.
