Intercellular Nigeria and Huawei say they have signed a strategic deal that will enable the CDMA network to deploy 4G LTE to drive its market rebound.

The deal that was closed the recently-concluded Mobile World Congress 2016 will see Huawei deploying an 800M LTE network to meet the strategic and service demands of the Nigerian market, the two companies said in a joint statement.

As a major CDMA operator in Nigeria, Intercellular says it hopes to adopt the most advanced communications technologies to provide the Nigerian people with higher network quality.

As part of its ongoing plans to return as a key player in the Nigerian market, Intercellular, which has been dormant for some time now says its working on new LTE network to ride on the 800MHz spectrum.

Intercellular says it is also swapping its “current WiMAX network with a new LTE network using the allocated 15MHz” to cover the cities of Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt and will be mainly dedicated for corporate customers.

“With Intercellular’s new LTE network; our corporate customers will witness and enjoy the quality of a high speed internet and broadband services compared to the existing offers in the market. The new network will be deployed by applying the highest technical and commercial standards in the telecommunication industry”, according to the Nigerian telco.

“The cooperation between Huawei and Intercellular is expected to further promote LTE development in the Nigerian market with construction of an experience-centric LTE network to provide the best online experience for Nigerian users. Intercellular in this cooperation benefits from faster commercial LTE broadband development and transformation”, the companies announced on the new deal with Huawei.

Emad Sukker, Intercellular CEO, says the Chineses equipment supplier was chosen because “Huawei is both the world’s leading supplier of LTE devices and also the most trustworthy partner. This LTE collaboration will help Intercellular accelerate our LTE transformation and give our people better and faster network services.”

Mr An Jian, President of Huawei Global Wireless Networks Marketing and Solutions, says “as a leading global ICT solutions provider, Huawei is always committed to building a better connected world. Because customers are our priority, we propose network construction principles centered on user experience. At the same time, Huawei embraces an attitude of open cooperation with operators to help them make efficient investments and build a speedy, simple, and smart network that achieves the best E2E network experience. Huawei’s products and services now serve over 170 countries and regions worldwide, with nearly a third of the world’s population using the network services we provide.”

Mr Feng Weixiong, President of Huawei West Africa, spoke of Huawei’s presence in Nigeria saying the company has “carried out large-scale deployment of 20 000 base stations, witnessed the increase in the Nigerian mobile user base from 27 000 to 117 million, and contributed to an explosion in mobile penetration rate from 0.02% to 83.7%. We work hand-in-hand with operators to promote the rapid development of the Nigerian telecommunications market. As users demand a ROADS experience and global telecommunications undergoes digital transformation, LTE in Nigeria is the next step in accelerated market development where Huawei will be the strategic partner of choice.”

Intercellular Nigeria Plc. is a public company limited by shares incorporated in 1993 under the Companies and Allied Matters Decree No. 1 of 1990 was awarded a license in 1996 to operate a private network links for the provision of fixed telephony services.

The telco commenced commercial operations in March 1998, using Wireless Local Loop Technology based on CDMA technology. In 2007, Intercellular was awarded a National Unified Access License that enables it provide full-fledged telecommunication services without technology limitation.

“Intercellular plans for the nearest future is to deploy new LTE network that can provide the Nigerian people with high quality, high speed and affordable telecommunication services”, according to a company statement.