Mikko Lavanti, Nokia’s Senior Vice President for the Middle East and Africa, sees significant growth potential for operators in Africa as 5G-powered Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) gains momentum across the continent.
Speaking to Developing Telecoms at the Africa Tech Festival in Cape Town last month, Lavanti described FWA as a “key use case for 5G,” noting that “many operators have said fixed wireless access on 5G is starting to really make a difference.” He attributed the rising demand to the declining costs of smartphones and routers.
However, Lavanti acknowledged that operators face challenges, including the high capital expenditure required for network rollouts. He highlighted Nokia’s partnership with 4G and 5G Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) provider Next-Gen InfraCo (NGIC) to build a 5G network in Ghana. This platform enables operators to deploy 5G services more efficiently through a NaaS model.
“We are looking at building more of these service networks,” Lavanti stated, adding that NaaS can help close coverage gaps and expand connectivity. He positioned this approach as a competitive alternative to Elon Musk’s satellite connectivity service, Starlink.
Complementary Starlink
While Lavanti acknowledged Starlink’s role in addressing connectivity gaps, he described it as “complementary” rather than a replacement for traditional telecom services. He pointed out that Starlink has capacity limitations, with overbooking restricting its ability to serve large customer volumes.
“I think it’s a complementing product more than a replacing product,” Lavanti explained. “For areas where it’s difficult to build fibre or 5G coverage, it’s a solution. But over the next five years, it’s hard to see it posing a massive risk to mobile network operators (MNOs).”
Adapting to change
Lavanti emphasised that MNOs will need to adapt to the growing competition from satellite providers, identifying NaaS as a transformative trend for the African telecoms market over the next decade.
“In ten years, we’ll see various ways of delivering signal to customers,” Lavanti predicted. “That’s why I view services like Starlink as complementing, not competing. However, network models may shift more towards NaaS, with tower companies playing a different role.”
