Soaring diesel prices linked to the Iran war are accelerating a continent\u2011wide shift in Africa\u2019s telecom industry, pushing operators to replace fuel\u2011hungry generators with solar\u2011powered systems to keep mobile networks running and costs under control.<\/p>\n
Diesel powers most of Africa\u2019s 500,000 cell phone towers, but recent price spikes and supply disruptions have made it increasingly expensive and unreliable.<\/p>\n
Several fuel\u2011importing nations have reported shortages, forcing operators and governments to rethink their energy strategies.<\/p>\n
\u201cDiesel has always been a major cost, but recent global events have made it even more volatile,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0said Lande Abudu of the GSMA.\u00a0\u201cThat strengthens the case for solar and hybrid solutions.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Across the continent, operators are rolling out systems that combine solar panels, battery storage and limited diesel backup \u2014 with some aiming for fully solar\u2011powered sites, especially in rural and off\u2011grid regions.<\/p>\n Energy can account for up to 60% of tower operating costs in remote areas.<\/p>\n With diesel prices soaring \u2014 in Nigeria by as much as 200% after subsidy removal \u2014 telecom companies are spending hundreds of millions of dollars just to keep towers running.<\/p>\n Vodacom Africa reported a 5% rise in energy costs to $300 million in 2025, while Safaricom raised more than $150 million in green bonds to fund its solar transition.<\/p>\n American\u2011owned Atlas Tower Kenya is investing $52.5 million to build 300 new solar\u2011powered towers, adding to the 82% of its existing sites already running on solar.<\/p>\n Companies like iSAT Africa, Orange, MTN and Airtel Africa are expanding solar and hybrid systems, citing both cost savings and emissions reductions.<\/p>\n Early results are promising: MTN South Sudan has cut fuel spending by 30%, while Airtel Africa has halved diesel use at sites in Zambia and Congo.<\/p>\n Beyond cost,\u00a0solar power\u00a0is improving network stability.<\/p>\n Fuel shortages have caused outages in northern Nigeria and Congo, disrupting mobile money, emergency calls and essential services.<\/p>\n Solar\u2011powered towers avoid these disruptions, offering more consistent connectivity.<\/p>\n In rural Kenya, residents say service has become more reliable.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen these towers go off, business and life stop,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0said teacher Martin Imwatok.\u00a0\u201cSolar has made a real difference.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Regulators see broader potential. Nigeria\u2019s telecom authority is encouraging operators to integrate towers into solar minigrids that could also power nearby homes and businesses.<\/p>\n Africa\u2019s heavy reliance on diesel \u2014 driven by weak grid infrastructure \u2014 makes the transition challenging but potentially transformative.<\/p>\n With global fuel markets unstable, industry experts say the shift to clean energy is becoming unavoidable.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is no longer just about climate,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Abudu said.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s about resilience, cost and keeping Africa connected.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Soaring diesel prices linked to the Iran war are accelerating a continent\u2011wide shift in Africa\u2019s telecom industry, pushing operators to replace fuel\u2011hungry generators with solar\u2011powered systems to keep mobile networks running and costs under control. Diesel powers most of Africa\u2019s 500,000 cell phone towers, but recent price spikes and supply disruptions have made it increasingly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20777,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","source_name":"AP","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,2831,2362,30,27],"tags":[264,1257,5121],"class_list":["post-20776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-africa","category-energy","category-featured","category-southern-africa","category-west-africa","tag-africa","tag-iran","tag-telecom-towers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20776"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20778,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20776\/revisions\/20778"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Financial pressures push operators towards solar<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Solar towers boost reliability in underserved regions<\/strong><\/h3>\n
A transformative shift for Africa’s connectivity<\/strong><\/h3>\n