THE UNITED KINGDOM FOREIGN, COMMONWEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT OFFICE (FCDO) FUNDS HOTSPOT DEBT ISSUE

Hotspot Network limited has received a debt issue enhancement under a co-financing arrangement with the £10 million Climate Finance Blending funded by FCDO and guaranteed by InfraCredit.

This funding comes after a successful feasibility study on Hotspot’s rural telephony network project sponsored by the United States Trade Development Agency (USTDA). Hotspot plans to deploy 2000 solar powered rural telephony network sites over the next 5 years.

The funding provides a flexible financial support mechanism to Hotspot for the initial deployment of 120 solar-powered rural telephony network base stations in off-grid rural parts of Nigeria. Hotspot’s rural telephony project involves the deployment of telecoms voice and data networks in partnership with MTN and other Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) in the country. Hotspot targets up to 500 base stations within 1 year with an intention to scale to up to 2,000 sites over a five years period.

During the announcement by Infracredit, it was noted that this was the first of its kind in Nigeria; a blended local currency debt issue for a solar powered rural telephony project. Both the CEOs of Infracredit, Chinua Azubike and Hotspot, Engr. Morenikeji Aniye expressed their delight over this milestone. The event was graced by the USTDA Country Director, Josh Egba and many other dignitaries

InfraCredit is  an ‘AAA’-rated specialized infrastructure credit guarantee institution that provides local currency guarantees to enhance the credit quality of debt instruments issued to finance creditworthy infrastructure assets in Nigeria.