Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Nigeria, Dinesh Balsingh, has described telecommunications as the foundation upon which critical sectors of the Nigerian economy rely.
Speaking during an interview on ARISE News on Thursday, Balsingh discussed the importance of telecom investments in expanding connectivity and supporting sectors like healthcare, education, and financial inclusion.
“I think that’s one of the key things that you will see in the rural areas. Telecommunications is the backbone of the economy. I remember when that submarine cable went out in March 2024, everybody was shut down”, he noted.
“Our goal is to connect every remote part of Nigeria with superior connectivity, not just connectivity, but good digital,” Balsingh said. “It’s going to power up the rural needs on financial inclusion, on healthcare, education. Some of the basic infrastructure has to go up there. I think we are the core pillar on which it can build on.”
He emphasised that Airtel’s network coverage already reaches “about 84 to 85% of Nigeria’s population,” but a significant part of their new investment is targeted at covering the remaining 15%.
On improving service quality, he said, “First is, I think, superior technology on all our sites. So upgrading all our sites to 4G, and then on to 5G.” He added that the company is “deploying more spectrum” and expanding fiber infrastructure despite challenges like vandalism and construction damage.
Balsingh also highlighted Airtel’s customer-focused innovations, including their AI-powered spam alert service,
“We safeguard all messages that are coming in and we know our AI tool identifies which are suspected spam messages.”
He continued, “We’ve got great feedback on that. So that’s one customer tool. We want to continuously invest on that and keep improving.”
Another key development is Airtel’s push for digital self-service tools. “They don’t need to walk into shops… from the comforts of their homes, someone’s on a public transport and they’re able to solve those problems.”
Balsingh underscored the macroeconomic role of telecoms, and said “Homes need ultra high-speed connectivity for multiple users at the same time. Bandwidth consumption, homes, office locations… expanding that distribution footprint is another important area where customers would see a differentiated service world.”
Faridah Abdulkadiri
Follow us on:
