CHAPEL Hill Denham’s Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund has agreed to provide long-term financing to Tizeti Network Limited, West Africa’s pioneer solar-based Internet service provider.
The senior debt facility will be used to finance the rollout of Tizeti’s broadband network across 15 states in Nigeria.
The Chief Executive Officer of NIDF, Anshul Rai, said: “Chapel Hill Denham is excited to partner with Tizeti in the expansion of fast, reliable broadband network across Nigeria. The 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 achieving 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.”
Tizeti’s founder and Chief Executive Officer, Kendall Ananyi, commented, “We are excited to announce the closing of this new debt facility 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 a last-mile digital infrastructure that will move Internet capacity to other Nigerian states and catalyze 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.”
The Internet service provider informed that it currently serves over three million subscribers in Nigeria (residential facilities, businesses, and hotspot users), via its wide network of solar-powered base stations in five states.
Tizeti explained that it would 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.
Tizeti currently charges its customers a monthly fee starting from N12,500 and provides unlimited data usage and streaming.
“For many countries in Africa, there is still a huge digital divide. This boundary between connected and unconnected translates into clear consequences for employment, education, family and social life, and access to information. More so, the World Bank reports that every 10 per cent increase in broadband penetration could lead to as much as 2.8 per cent growth in Gross Domestic Product. Partnerships such as this, therefore, play a significant role in addressing the digital infrastructure deficits in emerging economies, leveraging innovative technology and capabilities, to improve development outcomes for millions of people,” the firm stated.
