👨🏿‍🚀TechCabal Daily – Nigeria hits refresh on telecoms

Happy pre-salary week.☀️

Dear tech worker, we made it to our favourite part of the month again. Soak it in. At sunrise (Monday), finance departments across the continent will suddenly become everyone’s favourite coworkers. 

Let’s dive in.

For three days, Nairobi became the centre of Africa’s AI sales pitch as AI Everything Kenya x GITEX Kenya convened startup founders, government officials, cybersecurity firms, cloud companies, and investors at the Sarit Expo Centre (Day 1) and the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (Days 2 and 3).

The event, GITEX’s first East African edition, was meant to signal that Nairobi is no longer just a startup city but a serious entry point into the continent’s AI and digital infrastructure market.

Exhibition halls were packed with AI demos, cybersecurity products, enterprise software pitches, and startup booths trying to pull attention away from bigger global vendors. 

ASUS and Lenovo, for instance, pushed their gaming and enterprise laptops. Kaspersky and Fortinet leaned heavily into cybersecurity. Business executives from multiple industries circled enterprise AI and cloud conversations, while policymakers discussed regulation, data infrastructure, and digital sovereignty.

What stood out was how quickly the conversation moved beyond chatbots and flashy demos. Most panels kept circling back to infrastructure, who owns Africa’s data, where AI systems will run, and whether local startups can compete in a market increasingly dominated by global cloud firms and enterprise vendors. 

Cybersecurity became one of the loudest themes at the event as companies warned banks, governments and businesses about AI-powered attacks and rising digital risks

I spoke with over 20 attendees who described the event as the closest Nairobi has come to hosting a Dubai-style tech conference, praising the networking opportunities and international presence. 

Others complained about overcrowded sessions, expensive passes, and panels that felt polished but thin on substance. One criticism kept coming up repeatedly: African startups were visible, but the biggest stages often belonged to large foreign vendors selling AI infrastructure into the continent.

Still, GITEX’s arrival matters because it reflects how global tech firms increasingly see Nairobi not just as a startup ecosystem, but as a commercial and geopolitical gateway into Africa’s next phase of digital growth.

Apparently, it is not only humans who start rethinking their life choices after 25. Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the telecoms regulator, has now decided that Nigeria’s 26-year-old telecom policy needs a serious reset.

Here’s what happened: After 26 years, the NCC said it has begun reviewing its National Telecommunications Policy, proposing 15 major changes that could affect everything from data pricing and network quality to cybersecurity, AI infrastructure, satellite broadband, and online scams. The revised framework is expected to go live before the end of the year.

The NCC wants stronger competition rules, better infrastructure sharing, improved 5G spectrum management, support for AI innovation, satellite broadband integration, local telecom manufacturing incentives, and a Digital Innovation Fund for startups and research.

Why the sudden need for change? According to the NCC, the current telecom framework was built for an era when getting people online was the biggest challenge. Well, Nigerians are online now, with a 54.3% Internet penetration, but they also battle fibre cuts, unstable networks, expensive data, and digital fraud.

The NCC was already patching things together: Over the last few months, the NCC has introduced new frameworks: telcos, in collaboration with banks, must now flag high-risk phone numbers, issue airtime refunds for poor service, and upgrade their networks.

A lot could change if this works: The policy makeover could push forward some of Nigeria’s biggest digital ambitions. It could make broadband deployment cheaper and faster, extending reach to Nigerians. It could also support Lagos’ ambition to expand its data centre capacity to 250MW by 2030, accelerate 5G rollout, and strengthen cybersecurity.

Electric Transits Africa, a Kenyan e-mobility startup, raised $695,000 from AVIA Weghorst, Invest International through the Dutch Good Growth Fund (DGGF), and additional angel investors. (May 19)

Here is the other deal for the week:

• EYST, a Tunisian Insurtech startup, raised undisclosed funding from 216 Capital. (May 18)

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn for more funding announcements. Before you go,Nigeria’s healthtech startups are building around fragmented data systems. Find out how here.