January 25, 2017
One of Sierra Leone’s leading mobile companies, Airtel Sierra Leone has disclosed plans to invest a whopping $33million this year to aid the expansion of its operation across the country.
In July 2016, Orange together with its Senegal-based partner, Sonatel, completed the acquisition of 100% of Airtel in Sierra Leone.
During a presser yesterday at the company’s headquarters at Hill Station in Freetown, Chief Executive Officer, Sekou Drame, said the amount would be used to ensure modernization of their network, improve customer experience and operations.
With regards network modernization, he said they hope to renew all existing base stations with capacity upgrade to comply with international standards in terms of network and facilitate operations.
He revealed that they had already presented a proposal to the National Telecommunication Commission (NATCOM), detailing things they wanted to complete by the end of July this year.
Mr. Drame noted that network densification in Freetown, Bo, Makeni and Kenema would also be done to resolve the present network congestion, while at the same time renewing transmission backbone by multiplying its current capacity to cope with the high data usage.
“We want to assure our customers of our determination and commitment to provide good services at all times. Our relationship with NATCOM is one of compliance,” he said.