Airtel Nigeria says it has successfully set up a satellite dish in Lagos for Eutelsat OneWeb’s LEO satellite broadband service, which it says will be used to bring high-speed internet to remote areas.
In a post on LinkedIn on Friday, Airtel Business Nigeria said it has also trained its local team to manage the technology, “ensuring sustainable growth and innovation for the future.”
The deployment is part of a broader deal between Airtel Africa and OneWeb that was signed in November 2022 before the company officially became Eutelsat OneWeb in September last year. According to the Ecofin news agency, Eutelsat OneWeb began deployment of services in each of Airtel Africa’s 14 markets after following tests in South Africa in September 2023.
The first to publicly launch services was Airtel Madagascar, which announced its "Airtel Satellite" service in March 2024. While the official announcement doesn’t mention OneWeb, it described Airtel Satellite as “a very high-speed, low-latency and highly resilient connectivity service”. A separate Ecofin report says it is part of Airtel Africa’s agreement with Eutelsat OneWeb.
Adding LEO satellite to its connectivity portfolio could give Airtel Nigeria a boost in its subscriber base by extending its reach to rural populations. According to the latest data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Airtel Nigeria currently ranks second in the mobile internet market with 48.8 million subscribers as of March 31, for a market share of 28.5%.
Rival MTN Nigeria leads the market with 69.3 million mobile internet users, or 42.3% market share. That said, its overall mobile market share is 37.5%, while Airtel Nigeria ranks second at 28.9%. Globacom is technically third but almost tied with Airtel Nigeria at 28.4% mobile market share.
The NCC also says that 61% of the country's rural population remains unconnected.
