The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and Rural Electrification Agency (REA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to scale up telecommunication services in rural communities by using mini-grids to power telecom base stations.
The agreement was signed during the National Stakeholders’ Forum on Renewable Energy for Sustainable Telecommunications Infrastructure held in Abuja where government agencies, telecom operators, mini-grid developers, independent power producers and development partners came together to further strengthen collaboration between the energy and telecommunications sectors.
After the event, the Executive Commissioner, Technical Services, NCC, Engr. Sunday Oshadami said electricity and telecommunications were two critical services that have to work together to drive the country’s digital economy.
While telecommunications infrastructure depends on electricity to power base stations and charge mobile devices, Oshadami said electricity services also depend on telecommunications for operations such as vending and recharging prepaid electricity meters.
The agreement will enable the NCC and REA to leverage existing infrastructure by finding telecom base stations close to existing or planned mini-grids and connecting them to reliable power sources, he said.
The initiative will greatly enhance connectivity in underserved and off-grid communities where unreliable electricity has been a major challenge to quality telecommunications services, he said.
“It is very good. We know how important electricity is, and we also know how important our mobile phone communication is. What we are doing today is a collaborative effort to give Nigerians the best of both services.
“So the two of them are so vital and critical to the development of our country and to the digital economy which is today the backbone of every economy.
Where you have mini-grids, we will be able to identify base stations close to them so that they can take electricity supply from those mini-grids,” he said. “This means that rural communities that face challenges with electricity will enjoy seamless connectivity,” Oshadami said.
He said the arrangement would ensure that telecom base stations remain operational even when there is no supply from the national grid, thus improving network availability and giving rural residents greater access to digital services.
On when the Nigerians should expect the impact of the partnership, Oshadami said implementation would start immediately, as both agencies have already identified communities where mini-grids and telecom base stations are located very close to each other.
He said the MoU clearly spells out the obligations of both organisations, so they can immediately start implementation.
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Earlier in his opening remarks, the Executive Director, Technical Services, REA, Engr. Umar Abdullahi said the partnership was a departure from years of isolated planning between the energy and telecommunications sectors, adding that both industries must work together to close Nigeria’s infrastructure deficit.
Umar said reliable electricity is the backbone of Nigeria’s digital economy as every base station, fibre node and data centre requires power to operate. Poor grid coverage has left telecom operators heavily reliant on diesel generators, which has made the expansion of networks into rural communities commercially difficult, he said.
He said the REA’s investment in renewable energy mini-grids under the Nigeria Electrification Project and the Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up (DARES) Project provided an opportunity to tackle the challenge while improving the commercial viability of mini-grids.
Technical teams from both agencies have already mapped telecom base stations against existing and planned mini-grid sites, identifying priority locations where renewable-powered telecom infrastructure could be deployed right away, he said.
The collaboration is not meant to tamper with the commercial decisions of telecom operators or energy developers but to foster an enabling environment for partnerships by providing site data and reducing transaction costs, says Umar.
The Memorandum of Understanding provides the institutional framework for this collaboration. But an MoU between two agencies does not, of itself, energise a single tower. What builds projects is the commercial agreement between developers and operators, supported by a regulatory environment that they can both rely on,” he said.
He urged stakeholders to identify practical barriers including tariff structures, contract terms, reliability guarantees and regulatory issues that could slow implementation, adding that the partnership aligns with the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Agenda and Mission 300 to expand access to electricity and digital connectivity.
The partnership is expected to enhance digital inclusion, improve access to telecommunications services in rural communities and support the Federal Government’s efforts to expand broadband penetration through reliable and sustainable energy infrastructure.
