Nigeria achieves 80% phone penetration

Ernest Ndukwe, CEO of the Nigerian Communications Commission, declared that Nigeria has achieved about 80% telephone penetration in the past eight years, reports Allafrica.com.

Ndukwe said over 10 000km of fibre optic links have been laid across the country while some operators are already rolling out 3G services.

Providing a scorecard of Nigeria's telecoms development milestones, Ndukwe said the government has been committed over the last eight years to ensuring that telecommunications facilities and services are expanded rapidly.

Hits Telecom has entered into a joint venture with France Telecom to form Orange Uganda, which will make the Orange mobile phone brand available in the country, says NewVision.

Hits Telecom, which is owned by Middle East investors, acquired a telecom licence last year.

France Telecom will own 53% of the venture and provide roughly half the $200 million investment planned over the next three years to roll out the Hits network countrywide.

PNN, a Pan-African telecoms infrastructure operations and maintenance service company, has signed a frame agreement with Independent Towers Limited (ITL) to deploy and operate 200 co-location sites in Nigeria, Ghana and Uganda as part of the first phase of 750 sites, states Allafrica.com.

CEO of PNN, Alhaji AbdulRahman Abiola-Odunowo, stated that PNN intends to deploy the sites innovatively to help reduce the capital and operational expenditure for these sites.

He explained that to achieve a reduction in the operational expenses of its client, ITL has approved that all the sites would be deployed utilising alternative power solutions.