Telecommunication players are demanding targeted government interventions to ease power-related costs in the sector in a bid to unlock the needed growth in Africa’s digital economy.

Group CEO of Telecel, Moh Damush, admits that power costs remain the most significant operational challenge impacting telecom pricing across the continent.

“The biggest challenge that the continent has currently is the power resources – which has a huge impact on the prices, whether for the customers or for the cost of the operation itself. This is where the biggest challenge applies.”

“To allow sustainable connectivity, we invest in three different layers while in Europe, for example, you don’t need to do all these three layers. One layer is enough. So this challenge is putting the private sector under pressure to put up more capital expenditure at the same time facing a lot of challenges because of power”, he said.

In an interview with Citi Business News’ Nii Larte Lartey on the sidelines of the 2025 Africa CEO Forum in Abidjan, Moh Damush, noted that energy expenses are a major factor behind data pricing, particularly in markets with unreliable power supply –  a development making it difficult to expand affordable connectivity to underserved areas.

“There are different ways to address them. One is through government support, which we’re currently seeing, where governments focus on attracting investments. These investments yield direct benefits across various sectors, including telecom. Another approach, particularly for power-intensive industries like telecommunications, is to subsidise power costs. This would improve service quality for users while still ensuring revenue generation for governments.”

Thousands of business leaders have gathered at the 2025 Africa CEO Forum to discuss strategies for accelerating investment reforms, deepening the implementation of AfCFTA and aligning policy to unlock the private sector potential of the continent.

Managing Director of the International Finance Corporation, Makta Diop at the opening on Monday May 12, 2025 pushed for greater private capital mobilisation private capital to tackle job creation and infrastructure gaps.

The two-day Forum will end on Tuesday, May 13, 2025  with a landmark policy debate between candidates vying to lead the African Development Bank (AfDB) to shape the economic direction of the continent.