Visafone spends Billions to Upgrade Network ahead of CBN Cashless Policy, Plans Blackberry Services

According to the CEO of Visafone Communications Ltd, Sailesh Iyer, the company is spending billions to upgrade its network in order to cope with the increase of data transmissions in the country.

The CEO of Visafone stated that Huawei of China will be the contractor handling the expansion, beginning with a $ 20 million capacity boost of its broadband network in Lagos. “We plan to upgrade the remaining five networks in other areas of the country this year,” said Iyer.

He added, “The future of the telecommunications industry is data as against voice, Visafone also plans to expand its services to 36 of the country’s states from 26 states now and to increase subscribers “to 10 million from 3.5 million within three years, with the cost of expansion running into billions of naira.”

The expansion is being driven by the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Cashless project. Telecommunications companies are already beginning to announce mobile money applications, with MTN introducing its own service on Monday. The radical shift from a cash driven to society to a cashless society is bound to require increased network and data capacity so as to reduce Quality of Service issues when the mobile money applications are launched.

According to a report from Bloomberg, Visafone is also in advanced discussions with Research In Motion Ltd. (RIMM), to offer data and Internet services to subscribers using the Canadian-based company’s BlackBerry device.