MTN and Huawei Technologies Provide Network to Olanla Community in Oyo State

By Kangmwa Gofwen

Residents of Olanla community in Akinyele Local Government Area of Oyo State have expressed delight over the intervention of MTN and Huawei Technologies to provide telecommunication network to the community.

Before the intervention, members of the community would typically travel miles to access telecommunications network to communicate with their loved ones.

Rural Telephony  is a partnership between MTN and Huawei Technologies to provide network access to more than 2 kilometers from the site.

The technology, which is powered by solar, consumes low energy and can last up to at least three days when the battery is fully charged which in turn makes it efficient during the wet season with long periods of rainfall and low sunshine.

Balogun of the community, Mr Lamidi Adeshina said he is very happy because the villagers can now enjoy network and can browse from the comfort of their homes and their sons can now stay longer in the community without rushing to leave because of lack of network access.

“I am very happy because the villagers enjoy network and browsing and our sons can leave the town and come here and they would not rush to leave because they now have internet connection now so they stay longer and we are very happy about that.”

He said that before now, they struggled to make calls in the community as the network from Bowen gets to select locations or, they go to neigbouring communities to make calls. “We just look around for locations that we can get network and we also have some signals from Bowen but it is not everywhere in the community.”

Since 2018, Huawei has collaborated with  MTN to continuously provide sustainable connections to remote villages in Nigeria through continuous exploration and innovation.

In 2022, the two parties jointly built over 300 rural star sites, and over 600 sites have been built up so far, with a network coverage of over 7 million people. Bringing Nigeria’s remote rural areas into the digital world while achieving the goal of connecting unconnected macros.

Also speaking, Otun Iyalode of the community, Oluyemi Adegoke said, “We are so happy, we have been communicating very well with our children, they have been calling us and we have been doing the same thing too. We are happy and we feel relieved that we now have the chance to make calls from our homes.”

Elizabeth Emmanuel, a youth in the community said she is happy with the development as she can make calls and chat on TikTok, Instagram and WhatsApp from the comfort of her bed. “I am happy because ever since the Rural Telephony was built everything became easy, I could make calls from my bedroom and chat with my friends on Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp and even make video calls I am so thankful to MTN and Huawei Technologies for this new development in our community.”

Huawei will do live streaming on social media platforms on 13^th December to demonstrate how the site has changed the lives of villagers.

The Rural Telephony case in Nigeria is one example of Huawei’s efforts of promoting rural connection globally.  In Africa alone, Huawei has laid more than 250,000 kilometers of optical fibers, enabling 30 million households to access high-speed broadband. User experience has seen constant improvement. The average speed of home broadband already exceeds 30 Mbit/s, bringing smarter, faster, and smoother home network experience.

Another latest move is that, on 23rd November, Huawei signed a global commitment to join the International Telecommunication Union’s ‘Partner2Connect’ digital alliance, which will bring connectivity to about 120 million people in remote areas in more than 80 countries by 2025. Liang Hua, Chairman of Huawei, announced the decision at the company’s 2022 Sustainability Forum, Connectivity+: Innovate for Impact.

Dr. Liang stressed that access to a stable network was a basic requirement and right in the digital age. “Connectivity will be more than just a tool for convenient communications,” he said. “Together with digital technologies like cloud and AI, connectivity will help bring everyone into the digital world, and provide them with access to more information and skills, better services, and wider business opportunities. This will, in turn, drive further social and economic development.”.