Canadian telecom infrastructure provider NuRAN Wireless and Benin telecom provider MTN have signed a 200-seat Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) agreement.
This five-year NaaS deal will see NuRan deploy 2G, 3G and 4G sites in rural locations in the West African country.
The deal was finalized under the Group’s Framework Agreement, which represents a commitment made by the two companies in 2022 to establish locations in rural areas across the Middle East and Africa.
According to NuRAN, upon completion of the contract, which increases the value of the deal, it expects to retain ownership of the sites.
In addition, with this new agreement, NuRAN now has over 5,092 sites under contract with several mobile network operators (MNOs), exceeding 50% of its goal of reaching 10,000 sites within five years of the launch of the NaaS framework.
The telecommunications infrastructure provider said it received an initial commitment of $2.5 million from the Facility for Energy Integration (FEI), allowing it to proceed with the installation plan.
“While the bulk of the amount will be dedicated to Cameroon, NuRAN expects to dedicate a portion to the start of construction of sites in Ivory Coast, Benin and Madagascar as well as the delivery of sites already in stock in South Sudan,” it said. NuRAN in a statement. .
NuRAN African Movements
NuRAN has signed agreements with African telcos aimed at connecting the continent’s underserved communities.
This current deal comes a month after NuRAN signed a five-year NaaS deal with MTN Group to deploy 250 sites on the African continent.
In October 2023, the telecommunications infrastructure provider obtained a Category 1 license in Cameroon that allowed it to build and operate shared passive infrastructure for the country’s electronic communications networks.
In January 2023, NuRAN signed a ten-year agreement with the multinational telecommunications company Orange to develop up to 500 rural networking sites on the east coast of Madagascar by 2025.
Mobile environment of Benin
The NaaS deal will ensure MTN Benin connects the West African country’s underserved communities.
Statistics from a market research company Omdiaa sister company of Connecting Africa, show that MTN Benin is the largest mobile operator in the country with almost 7.2 million mobile users at the end of the second quarter of 2024.
Omdia reports that Moov Africa Benin was the second largest telco with almost 6.2 million mobile users during the same period.
Celtiis Benin was the smallest operator with almost 2.2 million mobile users.
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*Top image source: Image from www.slon.pics on Freepik.
— Matshepo Sehloho, Associate Editor, Connecting Africa