Nigerian solar-based internet service provider Tizeti has secured long-term debt financing to roll out its state-of-the art broadband network across 15 states in the West African country.
The Lagos-based Tizeti is a wireless internet service provider delivering high-speed unlimited Wi-Fi internet access to residential and business customers using wide-area Wi-Fi. Its services are available nationwide, while the company is also expanding rapidly to other African countries, with successful launches in Ghana and Ivory Coast.
Tizeti has secured long-term debt financing from Chapel Hill Denham’s Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund (NIDF) to finance the rollout of its state-of-the art broadband network across 15 Nigerian states, with founder and CEO Kendall Ananyi saying he was “excited” to work with Nigeria’s largest infrastructure debt fund.
“We see tremendous opportunity for domestic capital in addressing digital exclusion barriers in Nigeria and this partnership will hopefully be one of many. We will use this to build last-mile digital infrastructure that will move internet capacity to other Nigerian states and catalyse sustained development, value creation, improved connectivity, and a deeper and wider digital inclusion net. This will also increase our coverage from five states and make us the largest internet service provider in Nigeria by coverage,” Ananyi said.
Tizeti currently serves over three million subscribers in Nigeria, including residential facilities, businesses and hotspot users, via its wide network of solar-powered base stations in five states. The company will deploy the debt funding to build new internet infrastructure and purchase additional equipment to expand its services to Delta, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Abia, Anambra, Imo, Enugu, Abuja, Kano, and Kaduna.
Anshul Rai, CEO of NIDF, said Chapel Hill Denham was also excited to partner Tizeti in the expansion of fast, reliable broadband network across Nigeria.
“Digital economy is a key strategic pillar for Nigeria to accelerate its economic and social development, and providing access to affordable internet services is crucial to achieve the true potential of digitisation. We continue to work with all stakeholders to support accelerated development of digital infrastructure in Nigeria by providing access to long-term, Naira-denominated financing for such projects – thus realising the government’s vision of reaching 70 per cent broadband penetration by 2025,” he said.
