Africa-Press – Angola. Airtel Africa, through its wholesale fibre arm Telesonic, has entered into a strategic collaboration with Nokia to build a transformative, high-capacity terrestrial fibre optic network across East and Central Africa. The partnership, announced at the 28th AfricaCom event in Cape Town, is designed to address the continent’s growing digital consumption by substantially improving cross-border connectivity.
The initiative aims to create a robust digital backbone that connects multiple countries, linking key submarine cables—such as the 2Africa system—with terrestrial infrastructure. This will facilitate the rapid expansion of Africa’s mobile-first user base, who rely increasingly on the internet for essential services such as education, healthcare, and financial access.
The new infrastructure, led by Telesonic, will utilize Nokia’s 1830 Photonic Service Switch (PSS) platform alongside its high-speed coherent Photonic Service Engine (PSE) technology. The advanced Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) network will offer an ultra-high capacity of up to 38 Terabits per second (Tbps), enabling fast, secure, and large-scale data transfers critical for cloud services and webscale traffic.
The network deployment will span 139 nodes across several countries, directly enhancing the resilience and speed required for landlocked nations to access high-capacity international bandwidth.
“Deploying Nokia’s 1830 Photonic Service Switch represents a key network upgrade. It will deliver high-speed, webscale-ready connectivity across Africa, paving the way for transformative growth and new opportunities,” said Razvan Ungureanu, Chief Technology Officer at Airtel Africa.
“Our partnership with Nokia is an essential step in developing Africa’s digital infrastructure. By utilizing Nokia’s innovative fibre solutions, we aim to meet the continent’s growing data needs. This network will drive economic growth, empower communities, and open up new opportunities for businesses and individuals,” said Prasanta Das Sarma, Managing Director of Airtel Africa Telesonic.
Launched in February 2024 to address the growing wholesale data capacity needs, Telesonic’s initiative is aligned with the expected surge in mobile data traffic. Industry projections indicate that mobile data traffic in Sub-Saharan Africa will increase by around 6 GB per connection per month from 2023 to 2030. This growth is fueled by expanded broadband coverage, rising smartphone penetration, and growing consumer demand for bandwidth-heavy content, such as video streaming and online gaming.
This fibre network rollout is also a key component of Airtel Africa’s broader diversification strategy. The telecom group is working to expand its revenue streams beyond traditional services, with subsidiaries now focusing on data centers and digital advertising. Data services already represent a significant portion of Airtel Africa’s revenue, contributing $1.16 billion to the group’s total $2.98 billion in revenue for the first half of its 2026 fiscal year.
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