News
Etisalat’s subscriber base hits five million
The Chief Executive Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Steven Evans, has said the company has grown its active subscriber base to five million, two years after it made a late entry into the Nigerian telecoms space.Evans, who said on the sidelines of the inauguration of its “Easylife” value added package, in Lagos, noted that crossing the five million mark in terms of subscriber base was an indication that the company was getting closer to reaching its goal of being one of the top two operators in Nigeria.
Its growth in subscriber base came with a continuation of network expansion plans as it is up against a vibrant market with saturated penetration level and well-established competition.He said, ”In 22 months of commercial operations in Nigeria, we have accomplished major milestones. We are now present in all 36 states in Nigeria and are densifying our network as our customer base grows. At the end of December 2009, we had 2.5 million subscribers. In just about eight months, we have added about 2.8 million additional subscribers, because customers like what they get on our network.
Sunil Bharti Mittal, CMD, Bharti Airtel, on Tuesday announced the closure of the Zain acquisition. Bharti's $10.7-billion acquisition of the Zain group's operations in 15 African countries is going to make it the world's No. 5 wireless carrier by subscribers. The deal with the Kuwaiti company was completed on Monday at Amsterdam. On Tuesday, Bharti announced that key irritants like litigations and stake-holders' issue in Nigerian operations have been resolved.
Broad Communications owned by Oba Otudeka and his family in Nigeria that had raised objections to the Bharti-Zain deal, have settled the differences and agreed to withdraw all court cases. In lieu, Otudeka has been appointed as the chairman of the company in Nigeria.The deal had also run into hurdles after the government of Gabon had come out against the deal, but later approved the sale. The government of Congo Republic had also said Bharti-Zain deal broke law.Of the $10.7 billion enterprise value of Zain, Bharti will be paying $8.3 billion upfront and $700 million after a year. It would also take over approximately $1.7 billion of Zain’s debts as on 31 December, 2009.
NCC pledges more investment in internet exchange
The Nigerian Communications Commission has pledged to increase the level of its investment in the Internet Exchange of Nigeria. This, according to NCC, is to help the organisation realise the objective of keeping local Internet traffic within the country, rather than on international transit. An Internet exchange point is a physical infrastructure that allows several Internet service providers and network operators to exchange traffic between their networks.
The Executive Chairman, NCC, Dr. Eugene Juwah, made the pledge during the presentation of the status report of the organisation to the commission by its board and management, led by its Chairman, Mr. Chima Onyekwere. In a statement made available to our correspondent in Abuja on Sunday by the Head of Press and Public Relations at NCC, Mr. Rueben Muoka, Juwah said the key roles being played by IXPN were critical to Nigeria’s emancipation in the global Internet arena.
IXPN, which commenced operations with initial funding from the commission, was formed to interconnect all Internet service providers, private telecoms operators, and higher institutions in Nigeria.The NCC boss said the commission would improve on its funding of the organisation to ensure that the objective of keeping the Nigerian local Internet traffic within the country was fully realised.
ATCON welcomes Ndukwe back to base
Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) at the weekend in Lagos welcomed one of its members, Ernest Ndukwe, after 10 years of absence on national duty. ATCON, which is made up of 75 member companies, said the reception became necessary, owing to the nature of the national assignment and the monumental achievements of their member during the ten years of national call to service.
Addressing over 227 guests made up of ATCON members, guests of Ernest Ndukwe, ICT journalists and friends of ATCON at the gathering, President of the association, Titi Omo-Ettu, said Ndukwe needed to be received back into the industry, having gone to war, fought successful battles and returned clean without probe on account of his stewardship as the former Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian telecom regulatory body, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). Chairman on the occasion, who was a one time Minister of Communication, Olawale Ige, described telecommunication as a catalyst to global development, which demands a leader that is visionary, intelligent and purposeful in order to build on existing success. He thanked ATCON for the initiative to receive back on of their own, who had made the country proud in the last ten years.
