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Globacom: Five Years Of Robust And Innovative Services

When on August 29, 2003 Globacom, Nigeria's Second National Operator (SNO) defied all known and unknown challenges to enter into the cost-expensive yet, money spinning telecommunications business, only a few people gave it any chance of survival no thanks to the larger than life image created around the business by hitherto existing competitors.

And coming two years behind the other two leading GSM services providers- Zain (formerly Econet) and MTN, it was undoubtful a Herculean task awaited the new entrant.

But with a focused mind and a set-out vision, Globacom was not in any way daunted by the perceived challenges. The company rather saw those challenges as the springboard to play a leading role in the business of telecommunications in Nigeria nay Africa.

It's emergence in the telecommunications market unarguably marked the birth of a truly pan-Nigerian telecommunications services provider. And it has yet to renege in this.

		Indeed Globacom's entry could not have come at a better time, what with the near imperialism being suffered then by Nigerian existing and would-be GSM subscribers on the hands of the other two operators. They latched on the public euphoria of the availability of an almost elusive service to exploit innocent Nigerian subscribers. SIM cards sold as much as N30, 000 at inception and were still exorbitant even the month Glo joined the fray. Even when Nigerians were

ridiculously charged for dropped calls, the operators then insisted that Per Second Billing (PSB) was an impossible tariff platform in Nigeria and then, subjected Nigerians to the obnoxious Per Minute Billing (PMB) platform. And true to the popular saying among Nigerians that God is a Nigerian, Globacom came in August 29, 2003 to bring succour, comfort and hope to Nigerians.

Today that revolution brought by Globacom has continued to positively grow the telecommunications sector in Nigeria. Like US Presidential hopeful, Barack Obama's pay-off, 'yes we can', Adenuga and his team in Globacom believed they can make the difference in the country's telecommunications sector. And from what has happened these last five years, nobody is left in doubt as to Globacom's ability to grow the biggest and best telecom network in Africa.

If Globacom's introduction of the Per Second Billing platform in 2003 was a landmark then, its crashing of SIM card price to as low as N200 appeared to be the most exciting thing that ever happened in Nigeria's telecommunications plane. Today other operators cannot but run optional tariff platforms in their networks. SIM cards of all the operators are today almost purchased free of charge and with free airtime in some instance.

In just nine months of doing business, Glo Mobile, Globacom's cellular arm made history as the fastest growing network in Africa with an unprecedented 1million subscriber's mark, covering over 87 towns in Nigeria. Today, Glo has astronomically risen to become Nigeria's second leading GSM operator with over 20million subscribers covering the widest of communities, towns and States of the country.


		In keeping with the promise of becoming Africa's biggest and best network, Globacom commenced operations in neighbouring Benin Republic in June 2008. It has also been granted license to commence services in Ghana while other West African countries are said to be on the verge of enjoying Glo telecom services. Just less than three months of commencing business in Benin, Globacom has recorded over 500, 000 subscribers in its network beating other records set by other existing operators in the tiny West African country.

It is this same achievement it wants to replicate when it begins business in Ghana by the end of this year. Only recently the media in South Africa and Nigeria were awash with stories of Globacom's plans to buy into South Africa's leading telecommunications firm, Vodacom, leveraging on the shares of Telkom in the South African-based operator.

Reports had it that if the bid succeeds, it would lead to a 100 per cent merger between the Nigerian telecom giant and Vodacom in a bid to build Africa's largest telecom concern.

Expected to go by the name Vodaglo, the deal will see both parties becoming equal partners. The partnership would also be the answer to calls for the establishment of a truly pan-African telecom giant. If this happens, Glo would have succeeded in building itself as Africa's biggest telecom outfit.

Besides pioneering the Per Second Billing tariff regime in Nigeria, Glo has also set the pace in some other innovative value added services in the business of telecommunications in the

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country. There are such services as the Glo Mobile Internet, the Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), and the Glo Direct. There are also, the Magic Plus, the Glo Fleetmanager and the M-banking services.

For a company that has made such a giant stride in so short a time, it would

not be out of place to say that the sky is the limit. And indeed, looking at Glo's ambitious ongoing projects, this belief is everything but far-fetched.In the pipeline is the very ambitious task of conquering Africa the second time. This time round, it is neither the colonial masters nor the super powers but Glo's expansionist programme of having presence in all of the countries in the African continent that would conquer Africa the second time.

Already, the 9,500-kilometre submarine cable laid by the company to connect Africa with Europe and the United States is nearing completion.

The project which is costing the company about $250million is expected to run from London to 14 West African countries, with a dedicated link to the United States. The submarine cable project is expected to be ready by next year.

Group Chief Operating Officer of Globacom, Mohammed Jameel had noted in Ghana recently that the completion of the project would revolutionize telecoms services in the continent of Africa, and make them truly affordable to individuals and corporate bodies. This will also enable Globacom to introduce more services and products as well as help it provide high-speed Internet connectivity, data and voice transmission.

In Nigeria, Glo is running a ring round the entire country with its $700million nationwide fibre optic transmission network being delivered by Alcatel-Lucent. The fibre cable network covers the entire Lagos-Abeokuta-Ibadan route, Lagos-Ijebuode-Ore-Benin and Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano routes.

The first phase spans 10,000 km, covering all the major cities in the country, including Benin-Warri-Port

Harcourt; Port-Harcourt-Aba-Umuahia-Owerri; Owerri-Onitsha-Enugu; Enugu-Oturkpo-Makurdi; Markudi-Lafia-Abuja and Ibadan-Ilorin-Jebba-Mokwa-Bida-Minna-Abuja routes. The Glo Gateway has been described as the biggest voice and data carrier in the West African sub-region. Globacom made history in 2004 as the first operator in Africa to launch gateway switches outside the continent to carry international voice and data traffic. The international switches in the United Kingdom, United States and Africa strategically position the network as a major player in the global telecommunications industry.

The international switches enable Glo's network to directly interconnect other leading international carriers and originate and terminate voice traffic to over 240 destinations worldwide. And this has led to a significant improvement in traffic aggregation for the West African telecoms market.

Globacom has over 300 roaming partners in 170 countries worldwide and these include all major commercial hubs such as UK, USA, France, Germany, UAE, Belgium, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, India and China. The telecom company has the reputation of being the pioneer in Prepaid Roaming and GPRS Roaming services in Nigeria.

Whereas its Prepaid Roaming footprint has spread to include UK, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, Algeria, Belgium and Ukraine, its GPRS roaming footprint which is the strongest available in Nigeria extends to over 70 countries worldwide including many major commercial hubs.
The Second National Operator has not relented in its desire and commitment to providing the best of telecom services for Nigerians. It is perhaps for this reason that it is erecting an additional 1, 500 new base stations in new towns and communities across the Nigerian nation. Of course, Glo has been outstanding in penetrating rural Nigeria with telecommunication services.
In its determination to bring to the doorstep of Nigerians, modern telecommunication services, Glo at inception in 2003, ran on the 2.5G platform defying the tradition then which was based on the 2G technology. It followed this up last year when it pioneered both the 3G Plus and Blackberry services that have both combined to attract more subscribers for it.

Yet, with the 3G Plus technology, subscribers are guaranteed a speedy transmission of broadband Internet, data, voice and multi-media services over a range of frequencies. Subscribers would have the opportunity of doing video calls, video streaming as well as access the Internet while mobile.

In what has yet, passed as one of the biggest sales promotions in the history of telecommunications, Globacom in December last year began a N2billion Win and Rule Promo that would see 500 of its loyal subscribers become proud owners of exotic cars. It is Globacom's way of saying 'thank you' to its subscribers “for being on the fastest network in Africa.”

In fulfillment of its social corporate responsibility and in identifying the game of football as the country's unifying factor, Globacom in the last couple of years, has been sponsoring Nigeria's premier football league and has continued to exhibit greater involvement in every international football engagement involving the country's national football teams.

It is just five years but Globacom's landmark achievements have made it look like a telecom operator that has been in business for 15 years. If the achievements of these last five years are anything to go by then, in the next five years when Globacom would have clocked 10, it would have truly succeeded in becoming Africa's biggest and best telecom operator.
Only time will tell!