Announced at its first media roundtable of 2026, the updates reflect sustained investments made over the past 12 to 24 months and signal an accelerated push to stay ahead of surging data demand in a rapidly digitising economy.

Speaking to senior editors and industry correspondents, Dinesh Balsingh, Airtel Nigeria chief executive officer, said the company’s strategy is anchored on deliberate scale, depth and resilience.

“Over the last two years, we have invested with discipline and clarity to strengthen our network nationwide. Those investments are now translating into measurable improvements in performance, customer experience and reach, including in underserved and hard to reach communities,” he said. “In 2026, we are accelerating these upgrades because Nigeria’s data appetite is growing, and leadership in this industry will belong to those who plan ahead.”

At the core of Airtel Nigeria’s quality of service drive is the rapid expansion of its network footprint. Since December 2023, the company has increased the number of network sites by 15.5%, adding 2,242 new sites and bringing its total to nearly 16,711 nationwide.

Further deployments are planned in 2026 to strengthen coverage, capacity and resilience across urban and rural locations.

Network capacity upgrades have also reached significant scale. In 2025, Airtel completed capacity enhancements on 30% of its sites, covering over 5032 sites nationwide. Today, 99% of Airtel Nigeria’s sites deliver high-speed 4G mobile broadband, establishing the operator as a full nationwide 4G network.

This year, capacity upgrades are being extended to more sites to sustain performance as data usage continues to rise.

According to Harmanpreet Singh Dhillon, the chief technology officer, spectrum depth and optimisation remain critical to network quality.

“We have increased our 4G spectrum by 10MHz and we are actively optimising our holdings. These actions allow us to support higher data throughput, better speeds and more consistent service, especially in high-traffic areas,” he said.

Airtel Nigeria is also accelerating its 5G rollout. Over the last three months, the company has more than doubled the number of active 5G sites.

The accelerated 5G upgrade happening now will connect the top 20 Nigerian cities to high-speed 5G networks, with a significant part of Airtel’s network in these cities becoming 5G-enabled in the coming year.

Beyond terrestrial infrastructure, Airtel is extending connectivity through space-based solutions.

The company has established and signed partnerships with satellite providers OneWeb and Starlink, enabling enterprise-grade connectivity for businesses in remote locations, hard to reach areas and operational outposts.

Recently, Airtel announced Nigeria’s first Direct-to-Cell partnership with Starlink, a breakthrough that will allow customers to remain connected while travelling through deep remote areas and enable small rural communities to access Airtel’s digital and fintech services.

The backbone supporting these services continues to expand. Airtel Nigeria has built an extensive fibre footprint across almost all states, developed through years of sustained deployment.

Following the announcement to double capital expenditure last year, the company committed to expanding its fibre network by 25%, and intensive rollout activity is ongoing across cities and states.

Airtel has also confirmed plans to extend its fibre footprint even further, both within major cities and between states.

A pivotal national milestone is also on the horizon. Nigeria currently relies on a single internet submarine cable landing and breakout point in Lagos.

Airtel Nigeria has announced that it will launch a second internet breakout from the South of Nigeria, leveraging the 2Africa submarine cable.

In partnership with 2Africa, Airtel will shortly begin carrying internet breakout traffic from Kwa Ibo in Akwa Ibom State.

“This will create a faster and alternative path for large parts of the North and South, improve resilience for the entire ecosystem. Airtel is proud to take the lead in making this happen,” Balsingh said.

Underpinning these advances is a robust IT and cloud backbone. Airtel Nigeria operates an enterprise-grade private cloud with thousands of virtual machines, managing massive storage and compute power across locations.

The infrastructure includes large GPU clusters, supporting AI-driven applications such as fraud detection, intelligent network self-healing and advanced customer analytics.

The company recently announced the upcoming launch of its hyperscaler-ready 38 megawatt data centre in Eko Atlantic. This is designed for Nigeria’s next phase of digital growth, powered by AI.

From a customer access perspective, Airtel Nigeria maintains one of the largest retail footprints in the country.

Its products and services are available in over 200,000 outlets nationwide, supported by more than 4,000 exclusive shops across all local government areas and 250 flagship stores.

Balsing added that,

“Quality of service today is about resilience, redundancy and intelligence, and that is what Airtel is delivering. From fibre to cloud to satellite-enabled connectivity, we are building a platform that allows Nigerian businesses to scale with confidence, regardless of location.”

He reaffirmed Airtel Nigeria’s long-term commitment to the country.

“Our focus is consistent investment, disciplined execution and deep confidence in Nigeria’s future,” he said.

Aside from Singh Dhillon, other members of the Airtel Nigeria leadership on hand with subject matter expertise at the roundtable included Director, Airtel Business, Ogo Ofomata; Director, Marketing, Ismail Adeshina; Director, Information Technology, Kemi Ariyo; and Director, Corporate Communications and CSR, Femi Adeniran.

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Held from July 8 to 9, 2025 at the Lagos Continental, the exclusive event brought together C-suite executives and industry thought leaders to co-create transformative and tech-driven solutions for these critical industries.

Themed “Banking on Innovation: Powering Financial Services with Connectivity” on 1 and “Accelerating Nigeria’s Digital Leap: Smarter Networks, Smarter Business” on Day 2, the sessions were designed to identify critical pain points, unlock business potential, and drive smarter, more connected operations across two of the nation’s most essential sectors.

Delivering the keynote address, Dinesh Balsingh, Managing Director/CEO of Airtel Nigeria, reaffirmed Airtel’s dedication to enabling and driving Nigeria’s digital transformation across the finance and energy sectors.

Speaking on the timeliness of the workshop, Dinesh Balsingh, Airtel Nigeria’s managing director and chief executive officer, said,

“From power and water to finance, transportation, and logistics, this is a defining moment for every sector. The real question isn’t whether to adopt digital solutions, but how quickly and intelligently we can do so. At Airtel Nigeria, we’re moving beyond basic connectivity and becoming a true digital partner to the industries we serve.”

He highlighted Airtel’s categories of enterprise solutions that has been created to improve quality of life. These groupings include Internet of Things (IoT) for such services as smart metering, leak detection, energy optimisation, and real-time asset tracking; Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS), which enables secure, multi-channel customer engagement via SMS, WhatsApp, Voice, and USSD; as well asl Network as a Service (NaaS), which delivers flexible, secure connectivity with cloud-ready agility.

Mr. Balsingh added that,

“Nigeria’s power and energy industries are under growing pressure to modernise. Legacy infrastructure, fragmented systems, and lack of real-time visibility are major obstacles. Airtel is stepping in with the right tools, not just to connect, but to transform. With IoT, CPaaS, and NaaS, we’re laying the groundwork for smarter operations, improved service delivery, and better outcomes for businesses and consumers alike.”

Abhishek Biswal, chief business officer, Digital Services at Airtel India, brought substantial insight to the discourse with a demonstration of Airtel’s IoT Hub and its transformative impact on energy distribution.

Biswal said,

“The future of finance and energy is digital, and that future must be secure, scalable, and seamless. When financial players and utility providers partner with telcos like Airtel, we’re not just connecting systems; we’re building a smarter digital ecosystem for everyone.”

Reinforcing the CEO’s position, Ogo Ofomata, director, Airtel Business, called for collaboration among the participating sector and their stakeholders.

“We don’t take lightly the trust you have put in us. Airtel operates in what we call the enabler industry. Sometimes we don’t even know there’s a problem until we come together like this. This workshop is about understanding your needs and working side by side to design solutions that truly fit,” she said.

In his remarks, Luc Serviant, group enterprise business director at Airtel Africa, highlighted the company’s role in driving digital transformation through sustained investments in 5G and LEO satellite connectivity, aimed at boosting remote operations and expanding access in underserved regions across the finance and energy sectors.

He said,

“At Airtel, we understand that the future of is going digital, and reliable connectivity is the backbone of that future. From 5G to LEO satellite integration, we are investing in intelligent infrastructure that empowers service providers to operate more efficiently, respond in real-time, and deliver uninterrupted services to millions of Nigerians. This isn’t just about innovation; it’s about building the digital foundation that will power the nation’s next chapter.”

This workshop, which continues the series of sectoral engagements within Nigeria’s growing economy, concluded with feedback from stakeholders who called for the inclusion of regulatory bodies such as the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in future editions.

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The event themed ‘Modernization and Digitization’ was a dynamic gathering, bringing together industry experts, thought leaders, and key stakeholders together in a session where participants had the opportunity to engage in insightful discussions, and thought-provoking presentations led by various teams of experts at Airtel, Avaya, and AWS, sharing knowledge on how businesses can collectively drive growth, innovation, and excellence within organisations.

Speaking at the event, Director of Airtel Business, Airtel Africa, Luc Serviant emphasized the company’s commitment to fostering collaboration and partnerships that drive progress and innovation. He highlighted Airtel Nigeria’s dedication to endowing the public sector through cutting-edge technologies, enabling transformative change on a national scale.

“At Airtel, we are happy to discuss connectivity, innovation & technology, digital pillars, cloud security, network services, digital insight and portfolio solutions for effective business within the public sector. As a reliable partner in proffering innovative and technological solutions, we operate beyond providing connectivity to producing solutions and so many systems such as our core connectivity, data centre, cloud security and other applications from our partners have been put in place to constantly meet the evolving needs of not only the private sector but the public sector at large,” he said.

Airtel further discussed several business solutions that are beneficial to both private organizations and public sectors.

Some of the services and products include the Leased Line, a product that allows business owners to own their personalized network service within the Airtel network with utmost security that cannot be hacked; the Global MRLS tailored to enhance connectivity for organisations that operate across various branches around the globe, the Multi-tenant building connectivity for high rise buildings that allows occupants to share cost which is a very profitable and economical approach to enjoying Airtel business products.

Also speaking on the need for the government to revolutionize and deliver seamless experiences through technology, Senior Solutions Architect, AWS, Stanley Anetoh, said,

“We are glad to collaborate with Airtel on this initiative, following the increasing rate at which citizens are now raising their expectations of government interactions with responsive and digitally connected services. It is safe to say that cloud technologies in particular are considered very important to facilitate most of the government’s key initiatives and we would be very glad to offer cloud support as such advancement is not restricted to the private sector alone.”

Representatives of the AVAYA team also discussed their various cloud services, powered by their partnership with Airtel’s data center connectivity.

Ogo Ofomata, Director, Airtel Business Nigeria, expressed satisfaction at the success of the interactive session.

“As a business, Airtel Nigeria is delighted to open these channels of engagement with key players in our industry and today’s event has proven that we are on the right track,” she said.

Airtel is committed to providing unparalleled solutions and services to its customers, and this event is just one of the many initiatives the organization has undertaken to reinforce its stand at the forefront of the Telecoms and ICT sector.

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