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N. I. G. E. R. I. A
N. E. T. W. O. R. K |
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Zain
Goes East/South With Fixed Phone |
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Zain
has thrown wide open a fresh opportunity for residents of
South East region of Nigeria to communicate with friends,
family members and business associates with the introduction
of fixed phones in the area.
Zain's fixed phones will provide people in the region, especially
students, rural dwellers, hospital attendants, and others,
the chance to communicate particularly in places where access
to telephone is restricted, irrespective of their level of
income, age, status and location.
GSM Fixed Phones are wireless devices or terminals which make
telecommunication services available 24/7 without requiring
human control and the use of mobile handset.
Zain's Chief Marketing Officer, Norman Moyo, said at the commissioning
ceremony in Enugu that the service will help to eliminate
barriers to communication such as high cost of handset (phones)
and restriction in access to phones in certain areas.
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The company's
Fixed Phones will provide affordable telecommunication
services nationwide round the clock when the deployment
is complete and will empower many more Nigerians especially
those who cannot afford handset or cannot make calls because
of current barriers such as lack of access to phone service
or coverage problem and restriction in the use of phones,
Moyo explained. “Zain Nigeria
is determined to make telecommunications services |
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available, accessible
and affordable to all Nigerians, and create an environment that
will enable Nigerians especially the youths realise their full
potentials regardless of their income level or location.
The deployment of Fixed Phones by Zain in the region will cover
six States, including Enugu, Anambra, Ebonyi, Imo, Abia and
Cross Rivers States. These States are categorized as South East
Region under Zain network's geographical coverage classification.
Meanwhile, Zain is offering South-South region residents particularly
students, travellers and those who live and work in places where
access to traditional mobile phone is restricted, an opportunity
to communicate with the launch of Fixed Phones in the area.
The newly launched Zain's Fixed Phone or unmanned payphone in
the region is also expected to increase the options available
to customers and remove barriers to access to communication
services including the need to own a mobile phone, which have
prevented several people from enjoying the benefits of the ongoing
telecom revolution in Nigeria.
Zain became the first operator to introduce Fixed Phones in
Nigeria when it rolled out the device in April 2008 at the Covenant
University, Ota and Redeemer University, Mowe, both in Ogun
State, and in various villages including Awgu and Ogwute in
the South East Region, and Ikom in South South Region. |
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Visafone
Debuts At CTO Summit |
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Visafone,
the wholly-owned Nigerian mobile phone company had an
impressive outing at its maiden Commonwealth ICT Summit
which held at the Transcorp Hilton Abuja from October
6 - 8, 2008.
The company which commenced commercial operations on
February 22, 2008 and crossed the 1million subscriber
mark in August 2008 showed that it has come of age when
it attended the summit as a Diamond sponsor.
Visafone's well appointed stand at the entrance of the
conference Hall was a beehive of activities as delegates
thronged the stand to buy not just phones but the companies
Internet devices. A delegate from Sierra Leone actually
wanted to know whether Visafone will work in his country.
The Commonwealth ICT summit is an annual gathering of
telecom stakeholders operating in Commonwealth countries.
The last summit held in Uganda in 2007. The Abuja summit
is the 6th in the series.
Jim Ovia, MD/CEO of Zenith Bank and Founder Visafone
was among a distinguished corp of keynote speakers at
the opening ceremony that included Dr Mohaammed Ibn
Chmbas, President Ecowas Commission, Akossi Akossi,
Secretary General African Telecoms Union amongst others.
Visafone which launched commercial operations in February
with network coverage in 12 states has already expanded
to 17 states and over 150 cities and towns across Nigeria
with over 1.2 million Nigerians already enjoying the
company's superfast Internet connection and excellent
voice clarity.
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BT
Telconsult Partners MTN Nigeria |
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BT has announced a new
consulting agreement with MTN Nigeria Communications Limited under
which BT consultants will partner with the leading African mobile
operator to design and deliver enterprise services and solutions
across Nigeria.
Under the terms of the agreement, a team of BT consultants has been
transferred to Lagos to work directly with the MTN Nigeria management
team over two years. The BT team is focusing on developing high-value
high-margin enterprise service offerings based on MTN Nigeria's
fixed network assets. MTN's enterprise services will address target
customers in vertical sectors such as finance, oil & gas and
manufacturing, as well as the government sector and small &
medium enterprises.
MTN Nigeria's aim is to accelerate the adoption of its fixed data,
Internet and voice offerings to meet its goal to become the leading
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) provider in Nigeria.
The agreement provides scope to include more services from BT, leading
to the development of converged ICT solutions that would take advantage
of MTN's advanced wireless network capabilities and Internet Protocol
- Multiprotocol Label Switching (IP MPLS) core network.
The agreement includes an element of reward against performance
targets which mean that the total value of the contract will be
directly related to the business benefits obtained by MTN. The latest
contract follows successful implementations on previous phases of
the project.
“We chose to partner with BT because of their experience.
We expect BT will bring its experience of technology and organizational
change to drive the enterprise solutions value proposition, grow
the business very quickly and help position MTN Nigeria as the foremost
ICT player in the country,” said Ahmad Farroukh, Chief Executive
Officer of MTN Nigeria.
“We are honoured to have been chosen by Africa's leading mobile
operator to help it improve its offering to the enterprise market
in Nigeria. The structure and scope of this agreement provides an
excellent platform for BT to transfer our knowledge, best practices
and global experience to this rapidly growing economy, and thus
be part of the country's overall infrastructure development,”
said Graeme Lowther, BT Telconsult Director for Middle East and
Africa.
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Etisalat's
0809uchoose Comes With Homezone |
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Etisalat
has announced the introduction of Homezone, yet another dimension
of choice in the suite of choices it is offering potential
subscribers to the Etisalat network in its ongoing 0809uchoose
campaign.
Homezone is an innovative feature from Etisalat that will
empower customers with the power to choose and register any
area of their choice nationwide in the launch cities, and
in other cities subsequently, as their Homezone.
On this highly unique plan, calls within the registered Homezone
attract discounted costs compared to calls made in other areas.
This means that customers can register any area they spend
most of their time as their Homezone and thus enjoy discounted
call rates every time they make calls from this zone.
Speaking about the new initiative, Etisalat Nigeria's Vice
President Marketing, Wael Ammar, stated that with Homezone,
Etisalat is further demonstrating to Nigerians that it is
entering the Nigerian market with the sole intention of ensuring
that Nigerian customers enjoy quality offerings that are comparable
to the best in the world.
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“As a world
class brand with 32 years of experience doing business
on 3 continents, Etisalat knows only one way of doing
business in all the markets we operate in; our customers'
way.
We are always looking for the best ways to give our customers
an unforgettable experience on our network.
That is why we chose to enter the Nigerian market by giving
1 million Nigerians the opportunity to choose numbers
that have a special meaning to them with 0809uchoose for
free. |
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“This is the
first time this has ever happened in this market. We are further
reinforcing the power of choice that we offered with 0809uchoose
by giving them an opportunity to talk more and pay less when
they register their Homezone on the Etisalat network. The Homezone
can be anywhere they spend the majority of their time. For every
call they make in this zone, they save money because they pay
a lot less than anywhere else”, Ammar explained.
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He also said a person's Homezone can be anywhere there is Etisalat
network coverage and they can make calls at anytime of the day
or night from this zone and pay less; no on or off peak time
to worry about, he said. “Anyone can take advantage of
this opportunity to truly talk more for less as long as they
register their Homezone on the Etisalat network. It costs nothing
to register but the benefits are immense for the customer.
“For instance, workers who spend a large percentage
of their days in their offices can choose their office area
as their Homezone. Businessmen can choose the areas where they
spend a greater percentage of their time as their Homezone.
Market men and women can do the same. Students can choose their
schools as their Homezone. In short, you can register anywhere
as your Homezone.”
The Homezone will be as flexible as the lifestyles of the various
customers the GSM outfit hopes to cater for. “I encourage
Nigerians to reserve numbers during the duration of the 0809uchoose
campaign as the benefits are lifelong and far reaching”.
He reminded potential subscribers that they still had the chance
to reserve and enjoy the power of choice on several levels -their
choice of their special number, the choice of their Homezone
and in addition 300 seconds of free airtime for their lifetime,
whether on or off the network. |
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ASMATA,
Others Happy With MTN's New Forum |
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The Anambra State Markets
Amalgamated Traders Association (ASMATA), Agbalanze Cultural Organisation,
G.U.O Group of companies and other interest groups in the eastern
part of the country have commended MTN Nigeria for its newly introduced
customer consultative forum, tagged MTN Town Hall Meeting.
Speaking at the maiden edition of the forum in Onitsha, Anambra
State recently, Mr Sylvester Odife, President, ASMATA said: “This
is a very nice idea that will yield bountiful results in the days
ahead”.
According to him, “Without MTN calling us for this meeting,
it would have been difficult to know the challenges it faces. It
would also have been difficult for them to get the advice we have
freely given here today as to how the network can be better. The
beauty of this all is that the people you have seen here today are
representatives of groups of people in Onitsha. We will now go back
and spread the news to the grassroots that MTN truly cares and is
making efforts to serve us better”.
The Town Hall Meetings provide MTN the opportunity to obtain valuable
customer feedback that will help the company to streamline its customer
relations efforts for maximum impact. At the Onitsha meeting, customers
were able to ask MTN executives various questions ranging from the
quality of service on the network and expansion plans to corporate
sponsorship issues.
“MTN has blazed another trail by initiating this laudable
session.
There is no doubt that the company has received useful suggestions
and feedback that will enable it to serve its customers even better”,
said the chairman of the forum, Dr (Sir) G.U. Okeke, Chairman of
G.U.O Group of companies.
A raffle draw was thereafter held where lucky customers went home
with electric irons, DVD and electricity generating sets. |
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| Glo
Slashes Call Tariff |
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Nigeria's National
Carrier and Africa's fastest growing telecommunications network,
Globacom, has introduced a special package for Nigeria's small-scale
business community. With this package, workers within a small-scale
business organisation can communicate with one another at
rock bottom costs.
The package, entitled Glo Advantage, is part of the seven
unique offers to reward Nigerians for their loyalty and support
for Glo in the last five years.
The Glo Advantage consists of five SIMs with mobile numbers
in serial order, so that workers do not strain to remember
the numbers of other staff.
Glo's Group Chief Operating Officer (GCOO), Mohamed Jameel,
listed other benefits of the package to include an entry price
of N5000, (other post paid packages cost N7000 and above),
on-net call rate of 20k/sec and off net call rate of 35k/sec.
He also said that the monthly rental of N2000 will gradually
reduce with purchases of additional packs. In addition, 50%
discount is applicable to calls and SMS within the user's
company. This implies that calls made to anyone in the company
known as close user group, will only attract half of the normal
cost. “This is the major attraction for the package”,
Jameel explained.
To be eligible to enjoy this package, beneficiaries must show
proof of membership of a Small Medium Scale Enterprise Body
or registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission.
Jameel explained further that Globacom designed the Glo Advantage
for upcoming businesspersons in order to boost economic activities
at the grassroots.
“We are committed to empowering Nigerians and equipping
our subscribers to succeed in their various endeavour through
unique, quality and affordable telecoms services and products,”
Jameel said.
He described Glo Advantage as the icing on the cake for the
anniversary packages.
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