protocol (IP) and Plain Old Telephone System (POTS) calls. With the planned service, Swift's customers will be able to subscribe to simple, affordable and high-quality telephone services, alone or bundled with broadband Internet. Swift will be the first widely deployed wireless broadband company to offer affordable and feature-rich local and international telephone services in Nigeria.

The whole broadband Internet and voice project has been executed with inputs from World-Class innovative communications companies including Motorola, Eagle Telephonics and Cisco Systems whose terminal devices have been tested and adopted for this project.

Mr. Charles Anudu, managing director, Swift Networks Limited, said that the company is bringing reliable and affordable broadband services to Nigerians and that Swift Voice will change the way people use the telephone. “We are excited to bring these benefits to our current and prospective subscribers who will, at last get their broadband Internet access, telephone and fax services from one company and on one monthly bill,” he added.

Nkem Anigbogu, general manager, Engineering, explained that Swift Networks has taken time to develop a system that will provide their customers with the best experience possible. “We own all network elements, most importantly, the wireless link, we can better manage the quality our customers encounter when making calls. We have also ensured that the new service will not affect the quality of services on offer to our current broadband data customers,”

Swift Voice provides an array of phone features to help customers more efficiently manage their phone service. Features include a local phone number within Swift's market, unlimited local and long-distance calling within Nigeria, competitive international calling rates, call forwarding, caller ID, voice mail, voice mail to e-mail, three-way calling, caller blocking among others.
Initial feedback from Swift's tests in Lagos shows that many residents and business owners will benefit from the new voice offering.

Celtel Nigeria has attributed its decision to introduce additional migration option or format to its pocket friendly Flat tariff to the need to satisfy many of its numerous who want to migrate quickly to the new tariff plan.

According to Celtel's Marketing Director, Norman Moyo, since the introduction of the country's first flat tariff, a non network discriminatory call charge or rate, there has been an overwhelming desire to change to the new plan by subscribers across the country.

He said the new option, which is USSD based was introduced at the weekend, the company said, to help its esteemed subscribers migrate easily, conveniently and instantaneously.
“Many of our customers cannot wait to enjoy the unique benefits of our distinctive new tariff plan. Our customers are excited by the opportunity to make calls across all networks at the same lower prices for the first time in Nigeria. This is why we decided to respond quickly to the yearnings of our customers for whom we introduced the Unity tariff in the first place”, Moyo said.

Celtel introduced recently three new tariff plans: Simply Special, a package designed for Youths and the average telephone user; Simply Smooth, an ideal plan for professionals and heavy users; and Simply Smart, a plan suitable for businesses, businessmen, and ultra heavy users.

The tariff regimes, Moyo added eliminate telephone calls pricing complexity and confusion, and offer customers more value as reflected in the affordability, simplicity, and greater transparency of the new Celtel tariff plans.

He said Celtel has also now phone users a more flexible and affordable International call price, more free monthly SMS, special midnight call tariff and low friends and family call charge.

“Celtel has shown that we care about our customers and the entire Nigerian society by introducing Unity tariff. We want to help strengthen the bond between family members, friends, and business partners that is why we have made local and international call rates to all networks affordable to all, offering customers the opportunity to call for as low as N33k/sec to all Nigeria networks and 55K per second to popular destinations such as the United Kingdom, the United States of America, United Arab Emirate, and key African countries like South Africa, Ghana, Togo, Cameroon, and Benin among others", oyo explained.

which is the longest private superhighway way in Africa. The facility will boost seamless 3G calls on the network. It will be recalled that MTN launched the state of the art facility in a glittering ceremony last year, which attracted senior Government officials, Regulators and the crème of society.

Toriola said “We understand the importance of the 3G telephony and its impact in any economy. Indeed, we are deploying facilities at a very fast pace as we are certain that most customers on the MTN network are eager to switch on their phones to enjoy voice and video calls mode.”

He explained that not all handsets are 3G enabled. However, for those with 3G facilities, customers will be able to use both GSM and 3G networks once they request and activate 3G subscription. Toriola added that the “key value of 3G telephony is the ability to transport high speed data over the wireless network with full mobility. The high speed mobility enables Internet browsing, TV, video calls and all forms of content and value added services, to be at the fingertips of customers”.

The MTN CEO explained further that work is already at an advanced stage to ensure that all customers on the MTN Network are able to begin to enjoy the advantage of making crystal clear voice and video calls on their 3G enabled GSM phones.
Ahmad Farroukh, CEO, MTN said that deploying 3G technology in the country is important to MTN as it seeks to move its millions of customers ahead on the information superhighway. He noted that this is a huge milestone for MTN and indeed for Nigeria and that the numerous enquiries from various quarters on when MTN will roll its 3G facilities is a mark of confidence in the company and its ability to consistently deliver value.

He gave his commitment that the company will continuously live up to its responsibility to its customers and the country as a whole, to deploy world-class 3G telephony facilities that would not only stimulate an ICT revolution in Nigeria, but also ensure that customers enjoy excellent services.

It will be noted that MTN Nigeria was the first GSM Company to pay $150Million for the recently awarded 3G licenses, awarded by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) earlier this year. Since then, it has been working tirelessly to deploy 3G UMTS enabled technology in order to meet customers’ expectations.

Global System of Mobile communications (GSM) operator, Celtel has launched the first payphone service in the country; Jembi Public Calling Office (PCO) the first of its kind in Onitsha and the whole of South East Region.

Austen Okoronkwo, general manager, South East Region, Celtel Nigeria, said Jembi Payphone is a complete business tool, which offers the user several services including voice calls, text messaging (SMS) and Value Added Service (VAS) ; in either pre-paid or post-paid mode. “It is a very secured system, possessing such distinctive security features as, flexible record keeping attributes, ability to connect with printers and scanners and a high capacity internal battery which provides over 7 hours talk-time. The battery can be easily recharged,” he said.

He explained that Jembi is an exciting brand promise-inspired product that will help to leverage Celtel’s ‘Making Life Better’ proposition, to give Nigerians another tangible experience of Celtel customer centric brand. The Pay Phone will assist in creating employment opportunity across the country. Over 60,000 jobs will be created with our payphone product launch. One of the major objectives of pay phone introduction is Improvement in rural telephony in rural areas and boosting the economic power of residents of rural communities.

According to him, Celtel is introducing Pay phones to empower more Nigerians and give more people the opportunity to communicate with their friends, family and business associates at an affordable cost and conveniently.
The device has been specially tested and proven by Celtel team of engineers and key stakeholders including customer care team, select dealers and payphone operators, regional sales team, technical and segment teams has been trained on the use of the product.

He noted the company has set up a support framework for repair centres and have tested adequately the billing system with a view to ensuring that both the operators and users of the product enjoy all the benefits of the service.
Celtel will assist operators and dealers set up the Pay phone service with various incentives including the provision of adequate branding materials, training, free equipment support, and other marketing and sales support.
Okoronkwo added that the target for Celtel Pay phone is the entire country; and that special attention will be paid to the rural areas, where many Nigerians live and work.

“We share in the Federal Government’s vision of empowering those who reside in rural communities through the provision of access to excellent communication services. We are helping the government to realize its objective of opening up and connecting the rural communities to the rest of the world. Celtel is determined to truly make live better for every Nigerians irrespective of they live and work,” he said.

Celtel recently reduced international call rate by 45 per cent, introduced uniquely low midnight call tariff and special friends and family tariff plan under the unity tariff platform. Additionally, the company has also introduced Me 2U, airtime transfer service which makes it possible for Nigerians to share airtime credit with friends, family members and associates.

with 10.75 million subscribers at the end of December, 2006, up from the eighth place in the quarter ending September 2007. It had occupied the tenth position on the table one year ago.

Adewale Sangowawa, executive director, human resources, said that Globacom was well on its way to realizing its vision of becoming Africa’s biggest and best telecommunications company. Globacom began operations only four years ago, set a subscriber-acquisition record of one million customers in nine months.

Besides its unmatched pace of deployment, efficient services, array of value added services, strong and unique marketing initiatives have stood the company apart in the Nigerian telecommunication industry and made it the first choice network.

It has extended services to most parts of the country and its services are available in all states of the country. Its subscriber base at the is currently close to 13 million.In pursuit of its quest to become the number 1 network in Africa,Globacom recently signed a $600-million-network-expansion contract with Alcatel- Lucent. The new project is to increase Globacom’s national mobile network capacity to 35 million subscribers by the end of this year.

This will position Globacom as the network with the largest capacity in Africa. “The project will also strengthen our operations, boost network performance and support delivery of advanced multimedia, converged services such as Triple play,” Sangowawa said.

Alcatel-Lucent will also install 292,000 multi-service access lines covering thirteen of the country’s major cities. The fixed network solution will enable Globacom to offer voice, high-speed Internet access and broadband multimedia services such as video-on-demand, video conferencing and broadcast video to its customers.

The mobile arm of Nigeria Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) Mtel has begun the process of revitalization of the network to position it to compete with other mobile operators in the country.

Acting Chief Executive Officer Mtel, Mr. Ladi Williams, said the company has awarded Network expansion and restoration contract to quartets of Ericsson, Motorola, ZTE and Huawei at the cost N55.3 billion. The expansion project will cost N48.318 billion while the restoration project will cost N7 billion.

He said the two projects is part of it effort to ensure a quick return to the path of recovery for greater competitiveness in the mobile telecommunications market in Nigeria. "This will be a positive swing for Mtel in the highly competitive and dynamic mobile telecoms market in Nigeria and the quartet of Messrs. Ericsson, Motorola, ZTE and Huawei are going to be involved in the plan to get the company back on track” he said.

He expressed confidence in the ability of the four firms deliver on the projects having had a well-grounded understanding of the profile of Mtel network in particular as well as the mobile telecommunications landscape of the country and the competitive vista in general. According to him, the current statistics showed that Nigeria has a total of 38 million subscribers and with the current 140 million Nigerian population, stressing that the nation still has the capacity to absorb additional 30 million subscribers.
“I believe that there about 38 million subscribers in Nigeria and this country can take another 30 million. There is nothing wrong with Mtel grabbing 5 – 6 million of that number,” he added.

Williams expressed Mtel management determination to purge the company of unproductive employees and staff that are likely to compromise the on-going drive to remove the lethargic public sector orientation and attitude from the operations of the company that is now private sector focused. As we embark on this new threshold he said of rebuilding the company, it is obvious that a lot must change in the tradition, culture and convention that has become the norm in our attitude and approach to work ethics.
He said that the repositioning of Mtel for improved performance has made it imperative for round pegs to be placed in round holes.

He stressed that as in all businesses that are being positioned for survival; the need to continually embark on staff audit is important. "If Mtel must survive as a company and match its peers in the provision of quality remunerations and conditions of service for its employees, then periodic review of the quality and quantity of staff cannot be wished away on the platform of empathy" he stated.

According to him, ‘while it is certain that those who have little to contribute to Mtel, in the new direction and spirit of enterprise that the company is headed, would be exited, the good news is that those who have sown their hearts and skills for the growth of the company have a seat to keep in the new company.

In furtherance of its determination to bring innovations to Nigeria's telecoms market, Starcomms Limited, Nigeria's largest CDMA 3G Mobile network, has rolled out a new product to further boost its commanding hold in the CDMA market. The new product known as Instant Mobile Messenger allows Starcomms subscribers to have real time two-way chat with multiple users or any online MSN or Yahoo! Messenger contact over any Starcomms phone using text messaging (SMS).

Highlighting the benefits to be derived from the innovation, Mr. Prakash Pantham, Commercial Director, said the product offering is a first mover SMS service via MSN/Yahoo! Messenger for Starcomms subscribers which will connect them with their Yahoo! And MSN messenger buddies.

Furthermore, subscribers can also send, receive and reply to instant messages and view and manage friend's lists real-time. With this they can be online real-time on Yahoo! And MSN messenger through their handsets to any part of the world.
On the procedures of accessing the service, Pantham said it can be accessed by initially sending ''GIM'' to the pre-defined short code 3000. Thereafter, a menu (SMS) is delivered to the handset and the subscriber can navigate and interact using the menu number options (1-9) and thereby start using the service.

The service would also enable its users to add/block or unblock their online contacts; and also show their presence update and even add or delete the MSN or Yahoo service.

The company will soon roll out in Abuja, Onitsha, Aba, Asaba, Kaduna and Zaria which is another phase in the fastest growing network's expansion project designed to cover the entire length of Africa's most populous country.
Key cities as Lagos, Ibadan, Kano, Maiduguri and Port Harcourt already exist on the Starcomms network. They also have aggressive plans to take another 30 cities on air this year.

Starcomms has been firmly established as the largest CDMA 3G Mobile operator in Nigeria in terms of coverage, subscriber base, network quality and customer service delivery. The company, which was commercially launched in 1990, has surpassed the 500,000 mark in its subscriber's base. Reliable sources indicate that the network is targeting to cross the 1 million-subscriber base in the 2nd half of the year. The feat has been made possible in part by the recent deployment of the CDMA 2000 1X EV-DO technology, the first of its kind in West Africa, and presently being deployed in the United States of America, which gives wireless access to the internet at the speed of 400-800kbps.

Starcomms last year introduced a new concept called 'The call of Freedom', at the official opening of its Ibadan network. 'The call of Freedom' affords the network's numerous subscribers the flexibility to enjoy numerous services such as per second billing, SMS, Content, VAS, High Speed Internet, and Fun Box, among others. Since the offering was introduced, Starcomms had given subscribers a variety from the array of innovative products at highly affordable rates, with a bouquet of mobile phones, desktops and Internet module.

The management of Starcomms had then promised to extend 'The call of Freedom' to other states in the country, as it continues to expand its network to other major towns and cities across the country. It has recently released the new roaming number series '07028' on its network enabling its subscribers to roam across its network.