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By Sunday Ani
The telecommunications industry in Africa plays a foundational role in economic growth, digital inclusion, national security and social development. As demand for connectivity accelerates, telecom organizations face increasing pressure to expand coverage, improve quality of service, comply with evolving regulations and adopt emerging technologies, while operating within constrained economic and infrastructural environments. Despite these pressures, many organizations lack a structured, objective method to assess their true readiness and capacity to perform sustainably.
Telecommunication and Software Quality Assurance Engineer, Babajide Olaitan Muyideen has unveiled the Telecom Readiness & Capacity Index (TRCI) to address capacity and sustainability in the telecomm industry.
Speaking in an an interview, he said: “TRCI is a comprehensive organizational assessment framework that evaluates the operational, strategic, and executional strength of telecom organizations across eight critical dimensions.
“Rather than focusing on individual technical skills, TRCI measures how effectively systems, processes, leadership and capabilities work together to deliver reliable, resilient and future-ready telecommunications services.
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“By providing a clear readiness score, performance bands and targeted insights, TRCI enables telecom operators, infrastructure providers, regulators and industry stakeholders to identify strengths, uncover hidden gaps and prioritize interventions that improve performance, resilience and long-term competitiveness across the African telecom ecosystem.”
The pace of digital transformation across Africa’s telecommunications landscape is both extraordinary and uneven. “Over the last decade, the continent has seen a rapid expansion of infrastructure and connectivity. Between 2016 and 2021, for example, there was a reported 115 percent increase in internet users across sub-Saharan Africa, with over 160 million Africans gaining access to broadband internet services across the region between 2019 and 2022 (World Bank),” he disclosed.
“Yet, this progress,” Babajide said: “masks deep structural gaps. Although mobile broadband networks, 3G and 4G, covered roughly 84 percent of the African population by 2021, only about 22 percent were actively using these mobile broadband services, revealing stark gaps in affordability, digital skills, and adoption (World Bank).”
Broadband penetration remains among the lowest globally, even as nations pursue ambitious targets to bridge the digital divide by 2030 (African Telecommunications Union).
Many countries still fall below 25 percent broadband penetration, underscoring ongoing challenges in infrastructure deployment, policy alignment and organisational capacity, (Smart Africa).
In this context, the TRCI emerges as an evidence-based framework designed to evaluate the organisational preparedness of telecom entities across Africa. Unlike individual skills tests, TRCI measures systems, processes, governance, leadership and operational execution; areas where systemic weaknesses often lead to poor service quality, regulatory friction and stalled digital growth.
The primary purpose of the TRCI, Babajide stated, was to provide a structured, evidence-based assessment of how prepared a telecom organization is to operate effectively today and adapt successfully to future demands.
Africa’s telecommunications sector operates within a uniquely complex environment. While mobile and broadband penetrations have grown rapidly over the past two decades, persistent challenges continue to limit performance and scalability. These challenges include power instability, infrastructure vandalism, uneven regulatory frameworks, spectrum constraints, low average revenue per user (ARPU), skills shortages and the high cost of network expansion in rural and underserved areas.
At the same time, the industry is being reshaped by major global shifts, including the rollout of 4G and 5G networks, the rise of cloud-native architectures, Open RAN, satellite broadband, artificial intelligence in network operations and increasing demand for enterprise and digital services. These changes require more than technical upgrades. They demand organizational readiness, strategic alignment and disciplined execution.
Many telecom organizations assess performance primarily through operational metrics such as uptime, coverage and revenue. While important, these metrics often fail to reveal deeper structural weaknesses in governance, resilience planning, innovation capability, leadership decision-making and cross-functional productivity. TRCI was designed to provide this missing diagnostic layer.
