Nokia turns to AI as Africa’s telecom market enters its next phase

Africa’s telecom story has long been about expanding connectivity—from towers and fibre to 4G and 5G. AI is now changing what those networks are expected to do, pushing them from moving data towards processing it and acting on it in real time. For Nokia, the Finnish technology company that once dominated Nigeria’s mobile phone market and has spent decades building Africa’s telecom infrastructure, that shift is both an opportunity and a new competitive battleground.