BlogIT_Naija
Abridging the DigITal Divide Between 3G World & "Africa's Eco-hub."
Friday 21 March 2008, 9:37 PM
NCC grasps at straws to save telecom consumers in limbo- Contd.
Nigerian Cellcos Subject to Fresh Ban
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has imposed a blanket ban on all four GSM cellcos preventing them from putting out adverts to attract new customers. The move follows ongoing complaints about network quality from customers and allegations that the networks are adding customers faster than the network expansion can cope with them. The local marketing industry is also expected to be hit by the NCC’s ban, as it earns a high proportion of its income from the four cellcos MTN Nigeria, Globacom, Celtel Nigeria and M-Tel. It is not clear if ongoing promotions, for instance Globacom’s raffle of 500 cars, will also have to be suspended. A similar ban was imposed in July 2007 and was subsequently breached by Globacom, resulting in an NGN5 million (USD39,900) fine. In December that year, MTN was threatened with the revocation of its licence by the House of Representatives.
NCC’s Head of Public Affairs Dave Imoko said in a statement that new service testing equipment recently acquired by the regulator has shown that all GSM operators are allegedly performing short of the minimum threshold set. ‘[They] were grossly in default on several key performance indicators for ascertaining quality of service,’ he said, adding that following these results, a fresh ban has been imposed barring GSM operators from sales promotions that may add more subscribers to their congested networks.
Concerning rings of telecom scam, the attention of the Nigerian Communications Commission has been drawn to the fact that some unscrupulous persons purportedly acting as consultants, agents or facilitators to persons desirous of obtaining licenses for telecom undertakings have been defrauding innocent people. In the process these fraudsters have forged several licenses, letter headed papers and stamps of the Commission while some members of the public have been defrauded of various sums of money. The Commission is presently collaborating with security operatives to deal decisively with reported cases.
The Commission states that it has not appointed any person as consultant for obtaining licenses and reiterates that it operates an open door policy whereby prospective licensees can approach any office of the Commission and apply for any category of license. The Commission is always reviewing its processes and procedures to ensure that its services are readily accessible to all stakeholders in the country.
The Commission has simplified the licensing process and has Zonal offices in the 6 geo political zones of the country furthermore prospective licensees can get adequate information on the Commission’s website. The locations of the Zonal offices are as follows:
Lagos Zonal Office
9A Bankole Oki Street,
Ikoyi, Lagos.
Tel:- 01-4630643-5, 4630309, 2690568, 2690595
Kano Zonal Office
1 Sokoto Road,
Kano.
Tel:- 064-319999, 665772
Enugu Zonal Office
7 Egerton Street, GRA,
Enugu.
Tel:- 042-251538, 250435, 2306688
Ibadan Zonal Office
19, Osuntokun Avenue,
Old Bodija,
Ibadan
Tel:- 02-8104303, 700701
Port Harcourt Zonal Office
23A Igbodo Street,
Port Harcourt.
Tel:- 084-233055, 239942
In view of the recent happenings, the Commission wishes to alert the public on the activities of these unscrupulous people, members of the public are hereby encouraged to report any suspicious activity to any offices of the Commission.
(Story captured from TeleGeogrphy's CommsUpdate- http://www.telegeography.com/cu/article.php?article_id=21715&email=html)
-Dis na Naija!
-doregos
![View Doregos Olaleye [doregoss55@yahoo.com] [TopLinked.com]'s profile on LinkedIn](http://www.linkedin.com/img/webpromo/btn_liprofile_blue_80x15.gif)
Tributes:
TeleGeogrphy's CommsUpdate - http://www.telegeography.com
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has imposed a blanket ban on all four GSM cellcos preventing them from putting out adverts to attract new customers. The move follows ongoing complaints about network quality from customers and allegations that the networks are adding customers faster than the network expansion can cope with them. The local marketing industry is also expected to be hit by the NCC’s ban, as it earns a high proportion of its income from the four cellcos MTN Nigeria, Globacom, Celtel Nigeria and M-Tel. It is not clear if ongoing promotions, for instance Globacom’s raffle of 500 cars, will also have to be suspended. A similar ban was imposed in July 2007 and was subsequently breached by Globacom, resulting in an NGN5 million (USD39,900) fine. In December that year, MTN was threatened with the revocation of its licence by the House of Representatives.
NCC’s Head of Public Affairs Dave Imoko said in a statement that new service testing equipment recently acquired by the regulator has shown that all GSM operators are allegedly performing short of the minimum threshold set. ‘[They] were grossly in default on several key performance indicators for ascertaining quality of service,’ he said, adding that following these results, a fresh ban has been imposed barring GSM operators from sales promotions that may add more subscribers to their congested networks.
Concerning rings of telecom scam, the attention of the Nigerian Communications Commission has been drawn to the fact that some unscrupulous persons purportedly acting as consultants, agents or facilitators to persons desirous of obtaining licenses for telecom undertakings have been defrauding innocent people. In the process these fraudsters have forged several licenses, letter headed papers and stamps of the Commission while some members of the public have been defrauded of various sums of money. The Commission is presently collaborating with security operatives to deal decisively with reported cases.
The Commission states that it has not appointed any person as consultant for obtaining licenses and reiterates that it operates an open door policy whereby prospective licensees can approach any office of the Commission and apply for any category of license. The Commission is always reviewing its processes and procedures to ensure that its services are readily accessible to all stakeholders in the country.
The Commission has simplified the licensing process and has Zonal offices in the 6 geo political zones of the country furthermore prospective licensees can get adequate information on the Commission’s website. The locations of the Zonal offices are as follows:
Lagos Zonal Office
9A Bankole Oki Street,
Ikoyi, Lagos.
Tel:- 01-4630643-5, 4630309, 2690568, 2690595
Kano Zonal Office
1 Sokoto Road,
Kano.
Tel:- 064-319999, 665772
Enugu Zonal Office
7 Egerton Street, GRA,
Enugu.
Tel:- 042-251538, 250435, 2306688
Ibadan Zonal Office
19, Osuntokun Avenue,
Old Bodija,
Ibadan
Tel:- 02-8104303, 700701
Port Harcourt Zonal Office
23A Igbodo Street,
Port Harcourt.
Tel:- 084-233055, 239942
In view of the recent happenings, the Commission wishes to alert the public on the activities of these unscrupulous people, members of the public are hereby encouraged to report any suspicious activity to any offices of the Commission.
(Story captured from TeleGeogrphy's CommsUpdate- http://www.telegeography.com/cu/article.php?article_id=21715&email=html)
-Dis na Naija!
-doregos
Tributes:
TeleGeogrphy's CommsUpdate - http://www.telegeography.com
Monday 10 March 2008, 4:20 AM
NCC grasps at straws to save telecom consumers in limbo- Part 1
As at the latest count, about 20 million Nigerians are said to be subscribers to one phone network or another with interests varying from Globacom, Starcom, Multilink, to Celtel and so on. Without doubt, communication has become easier than before now and this has changed the way we do business. Rather unfortunately however, the network service providers’ customers are being fleeced. What is going on in the communications industry in Nigeria today is nothing but a great telephone scam. It is a rip off.
The reasons for this conclusion are not far-fetched. First, subscribers are at the mercy of the network with no intervention whatsoever by the National Communications Commission (NCC). There is no consumer body representing the interests of mobile phone service subscribers nor does any ombudsman exist to look into subscribers’ complaints against network providers. Sadly enough, the customer services of the various network providers are nothing to write home about. Not only are some of the staff rude, subscribers spend hours most times without the benefit of a response.
The operations of most of the mobile phone companies appear to have been masterfully orchestrated like the great train robbery. The manner in which some of them rip off their customers’ phone credits leaves very few people in doubt that a grand design to rob helpless, unprotected Nigerian subscribers is being secretly executed by most of these network providers. A number of cases will serve to buttress this claim.
On the 14th of October, this writer bought a Celtel SIM pack and a N500 recharge card. The several attempts I made to recharge my mobile phone to the tune of N55 ended in a fiasco, with messages like "network error", "this card has been used" popping up several times. Finally, I got the final message, "You have been banned from this network" as a response to my extra attempt to claim what is rightly mine. I immediately discarded the Celtel SIM pack and bought a Globacom (known as Glo) SIM pack and ended up in a debt trap.
Globacom is in no way better. Subscribers make calls without knowing the cost of the calls while the network provider rips them off. The network providers dictate the charges per minute or per second and decide what the subscribers balance is at the end of the day. The networks are ever busy since most of the networks are over-subscribed and have very little capacity to cope with the traffic on their networks. Often times, subscribers are frustrated and get little or no value for their money. Yet the NCC and the National Assembly members appear to have submitted the communication destiny of our dear nation to these dishonourable, rip off companies.
After several thousands of Naira out of pocket, I decided to buy a Starcom mobile landline handset in Abuja from one of the company’s staff in a team peddling the company’s phone during one of their numerous promotions. That turned out to be a nightmare. As opposed to the advertised functions of the Starcom network, the text message facility is non-existent. Every time one tries to send a text message, Starcom returns "Network error. Text message sending failed". Additionally, it is difficult for those trying to call the Stasrcom network to get through to subscribers.
Most ridiculous of all has been Starcom’s practice through its street agents of tricking customers into buying business lines without their knowledge and consent in a case akin to 419. This writer’s experience is quite illuminating and demonstrates the levity with which mobile telephone operators hold their Nigerian customers. Credits simply disappear after only a few minutes of calls. Periodically, subscribers receive text messages informing them of their balance without anything to show them how this was arrived at.
Investigations by this writer via a phone call to Starcom’s Customer Service on the evening of 4th December 2007 revealed that the mobile phone companies see themselves as conquering warlords to whom Nigerian subscribers owe obeisance. The Customer Service adviser who took this writer’s enquiry shockingly informed the writer that his mobile telephone landline is a business number from which the company deducts N70 per day!! Despite protestations by this writer to the effect that the company’s staff never gave any indications that the number was a business number from which money would be deducted by the company on a daily basis and that the company’s staff who sold the phone claimed that for every N500 spent by a subscriber, an equal amount is credited to the phone account, the customer service adviser said there was nothing she could do about it. A request to speak to any of the customer service Managers on the matter was met with the rudest response of all- the Starcom Customer Service adviser simply dropped the phone.
Without mincing words, what the mobile phone companies are engaged in is nothing but 419. While they are smiling all the way to their banks, subscribers are being ripped off and do not get value for money. Unfortunately, our law makers and officials of the NCC appear unruffled by the rip off being perpetrated against Nigerians by the mobile phone network operators. Such uncaring attitude on the part of those who should protect us from greedy mobile phone companies does not however come as a surprise considering the fact that our legislators enjoy free mobile phone service access from many of the mobile phone network service providers. The mobile phone industry in Nigeria stinks to high heavens and there is an urgent need for it to be sanitised. The EFCC should step in to save Nigerians from these scam communication companies.
(Story captured from businessdayonline: http://www.businessdayonline.com/analysis/comments/1645.html)
-Dis na Naija!
-doregos
Tributes:
BUSINESSDAY - http://businessdayonline.com
The reasons for this conclusion are not far-fetched. First, subscribers are at the mercy of the network with no intervention whatsoever by the National Communications Commission (NCC). There is no consumer body representing the interests of mobile phone service subscribers nor does any ombudsman exist to look into subscribers’ complaints against network providers. Sadly enough, the customer services of the various network providers are nothing to write home about. Not only are some of the staff rude, subscribers spend hours most times without the benefit of a response.
The operations of most of the mobile phone companies appear to have been masterfully orchestrated like the great train robbery. The manner in which some of them rip off their customers’ phone credits leaves very few people in doubt that a grand design to rob helpless, unprotected Nigerian subscribers is being secretly executed by most of these network providers. A number of cases will serve to buttress this claim.
On the 14th of October, this writer bought a Celtel SIM pack and a N500 recharge card. The several attempts I made to recharge my mobile phone to the tune of N55 ended in a fiasco, with messages like "network error", "this card has been used" popping up several times. Finally, I got the final message, "You have been banned from this network" as a response to my extra attempt to claim what is rightly mine. I immediately discarded the Celtel SIM pack and bought a Globacom (known as Glo) SIM pack and ended up in a debt trap.
Globacom is in no way better. Subscribers make calls without knowing the cost of the calls while the network provider rips them off. The network providers dictate the charges per minute or per second and decide what the subscribers balance is at the end of the day. The networks are ever busy since most of the networks are over-subscribed and have very little capacity to cope with the traffic on their networks. Often times, subscribers are frustrated and get little or no value for their money. Yet the NCC and the National Assembly members appear to have submitted the communication destiny of our dear nation to these dishonourable, rip off companies.
After several thousands of Naira out of pocket, I decided to buy a Starcom mobile landline handset in Abuja from one of the company’s staff in a team peddling the company’s phone during one of their numerous promotions. That turned out to be a nightmare. As opposed to the advertised functions of the Starcom network, the text message facility is non-existent. Every time one tries to send a text message, Starcom returns "Network error. Text message sending failed". Additionally, it is difficult for those trying to call the Stasrcom network to get through to subscribers.
Most ridiculous of all has been Starcom’s practice through its street agents of tricking customers into buying business lines without their knowledge and consent in a case akin to 419. This writer’s experience is quite illuminating and demonstrates the levity with which mobile telephone operators hold their Nigerian customers. Credits simply disappear after only a few minutes of calls. Periodically, subscribers receive text messages informing them of their balance without anything to show them how this was arrived at.
Investigations by this writer via a phone call to Starcom’s Customer Service on the evening of 4th December 2007 revealed that the mobile phone companies see themselves as conquering warlords to whom Nigerian subscribers owe obeisance. The Customer Service adviser who took this writer’s enquiry shockingly informed the writer that his mobile telephone landline is a business number from which the company deducts N70 per day!! Despite protestations by this writer to the effect that the company’s staff never gave any indications that the number was a business number from which money would be deducted by the company on a daily basis and that the company’s staff who sold the phone claimed that for every N500 spent by a subscriber, an equal amount is credited to the phone account, the customer service adviser said there was nothing she could do about it. A request to speak to any of the customer service Managers on the matter was met with the rudest response of all- the Starcom Customer Service adviser simply dropped the phone.
Without mincing words, what the mobile phone companies are engaged in is nothing but 419. While they are smiling all the way to their banks, subscribers are being ripped off and do not get value for money. Unfortunately, our law makers and officials of the NCC appear unruffled by the rip off being perpetrated against Nigerians by the mobile phone network operators. Such uncaring attitude on the part of those who should protect us from greedy mobile phone companies does not however come as a surprise considering the fact that our legislators enjoy free mobile phone service access from many of the mobile phone network service providers. The mobile phone industry in Nigeria stinks to high heavens and there is an urgent need for it to be sanitised. The EFCC should step in to save Nigerians from these scam communication companies.
(Story captured from businessdayonline: http://www.businessdayonline.com/analysis/comments/1645.html)
-Dis na Naija!
-doregos
Tributes:
BUSINESSDAY - http://businessdayonline.com
Thursday 14 February 2008, 2:17 AM
NITEL/MTel up for grabs. Again!
The Federal Government has embarked on the search for new investors for NITEL and MTel to improve on its dwindling fortunes. In a meeting with Transnational Corporation (Transcorp) last December, government made clear its position to get another investor to salvage the telecom company.
The government said this was to redress the worsening condition of the company, a year after Transcorp took its operations. This decision was contained in a resolution at the end of the meeting made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja yesterday.
The resolution indicated that both parties agreed to divest a percentage of their equity in the company for a new investor. “There is the need for a new core investor who is an industry player with a focus, technical expertise, managerial experience and financial capacity to turn NITEL/Mtel around’’ it stated.
The Federal Government currently owns 49 percent share in the telecom company, while Transcorp controls 51 percent after paying N63-billion (US 500 million dollars) in November 2006.
With this resolution, the government is to relinquish 24 percent of its holding to the new investor and retain 25 percent for divestment to Nigerians. “Transcorp is to relinquish a maximum of 27 percent out of its 51 percent holding to the new operator/investor in order to make up the 51 percent needed to give the core investor majority ownership’’ the resolution said.
It was gathered that the resolution had been sent to President Umaru Yar’ Adua for approval.
Top ministry officials told NAN that the meeting held on December. 17, 2007, was attended by the Ministers of Information and Communication, the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), Transcorp and the BPE. Top ministry officials said some investors have already indicated interest in the company.
The officials said the memo to the president entitled “Re: Unmerited Six Months Tolerance of Transcorp’s sloppy Management of NITEL/MTel’’ catalogued about 32 areas that Transcorp did not meet.The officials said Transcorp had failed to meet up with the Post Acquisition Plan of NITEL/ Mtel, which included infusion of N8.9 billion working capital loan to turn around the company.
They said Transcorp had also not met the repayment of N15 billion Interconnection debt to local and international network operators.Transcorp had also not been able to pay four months salary to Nitel workers who had all been on probation for over a year, without promotion or increment.
It identified: “Incessant changes and disagreements between board members and top management in Transcorp as major factor leading to instability in strategy and programme implementation’’ the officials said.For Mtel, the officials said Transcorp had agreed in the Post Acquisition Plan to infuse N6. 3 billion for direct cost, current and outstanding operational expenses as working loan.
When contacted, the Chairman of Transcorp, Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, told NAN that it was illegal under the subsisting privatisation laws to sell or cede part of the shares until 2009. “We have no plans now to circumvent the privatisation laws which barred us from distorting the current share structure until after three years.“The contending issue now is that we have succeeded in attracting world class telecommunications firms to commit their skills and funds in revamping NITEL,’’ she said.
She said the prevailing circumstances and dynamics of the global telecom industry had compelled Transcorp to seek government permission in altering the status quo. “We are only suggesting some percentage of equity participation by some of the global telecommunications companies that have shown interest in NITEL.” Transcorp feels it is one of the ways to re-invigorate the cash cow potential of the company,’’ Okereke-Onyiuke said.
She also said that they had re-opened discussion with an American based telecommunication company, CISCO, on the nation’s dormant SAT 3 telecommunication satellites. The privatisation process of NITEL
began in 2001, but was halted in 2002 when the then investor, Investors International London Ltd (IIL) failed to meet up with the payment of 90 percent balance of US 1.3 billion.
(Story captured from businessdayonline: http://www.businessdayonline.com/technology/4004.html)
-Dis na Naija!
-doregos
Tributes:
BUSINESSDAY - http://businessdayonline.com
The government said this was to redress the worsening condition of the company, a year after Transcorp took its operations. This decision was contained in a resolution at the end of the meeting made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja yesterday.
The resolution indicated that both parties agreed to divest a percentage of their equity in the company for a new investor. “There is the need for a new core investor who is an industry player with a focus, technical expertise, managerial experience and financial capacity to turn NITEL/Mtel around’’ it stated.
The Federal Government currently owns 49 percent share in the telecom company, while Transcorp controls 51 percent after paying N63-billion (US 500 million dollars) in November 2006.
With this resolution, the government is to relinquish 24 percent of its holding to the new investor and retain 25 percent for divestment to Nigerians. “Transcorp is to relinquish a maximum of 27 percent out of its 51 percent holding to the new operator/investor in order to make up the 51 percent needed to give the core investor majority ownership’’ the resolution said.
It was gathered that the resolution had been sent to President Umaru Yar’ Adua for approval.
Top ministry officials told NAN that the meeting held on December. 17, 2007, was attended by the Ministers of Information and Communication, the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), Transcorp and the BPE. Top ministry officials said some investors have already indicated interest in the company.
The officials said the memo to the president entitled “Re: Unmerited Six Months Tolerance of Transcorp’s sloppy Management of NITEL/MTel’’ catalogued about 32 areas that Transcorp did not meet.The officials said Transcorp had failed to meet up with the Post Acquisition Plan of NITEL/ Mtel, which included infusion of N8.9 billion working capital loan to turn around the company.
They said Transcorp had also not met the repayment of N15 billion Interconnection debt to local and international network operators.Transcorp had also not been able to pay four months salary to Nitel workers who had all been on probation for over a year, without promotion or increment.
It identified: “Incessant changes and disagreements between board members and top management in Transcorp as major factor leading to instability in strategy and programme implementation’’ the officials said.For Mtel, the officials said Transcorp had agreed in the Post Acquisition Plan to infuse N6. 3 billion for direct cost, current and outstanding operational expenses as working loan.
When contacted, the Chairman of Transcorp, Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, told NAN that it was illegal under the subsisting privatisation laws to sell or cede part of the shares until 2009. “We have no plans now to circumvent the privatisation laws which barred us from distorting the current share structure until after three years.“The contending issue now is that we have succeeded in attracting world class telecommunications firms to commit their skills and funds in revamping NITEL,’’ she said.
She said the prevailing circumstances and dynamics of the global telecom industry had compelled Transcorp to seek government permission in altering the status quo. “We are only suggesting some percentage of equity participation by some of the global telecommunications companies that have shown interest in NITEL.” Transcorp feels it is one of the ways to re-invigorate the cash cow potential of the company,’’ Okereke-Onyiuke said.
She also said that they had re-opened discussion with an American based telecommunication company, CISCO, on the nation’s dormant SAT 3 telecommunication satellites. The privatisation process of NITEL
began in 2001, but was halted in 2002 when the then investor, Investors International London Ltd (IIL) failed to meet up with the payment of 90 percent balance of US 1.3 billion.
(Story captured from businessdayonline: http://www.businessdayonline.com/technology/4004.html)
-Dis na Naija!
-doregos
Tributes:
BUSINESSDAY - http://businessdayonline.com
Friday 25 January 2008, 9:25 PM
African Nations (network) Corps
"Celtel One Network will aid regional integration," says ECOWAS Chief
THE Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) has said that the extension of the world's first borderless roaming to the sub region by Celtel would greatly boost the search for a greater integration of the economies of West African States.
According to a spokesperson for the sub regional body and a representative of the Secretary General of ECOWAS, Dr. Jeff Kamara, the elimination of roaming charges in the countries involved in Celtel One Network would enhance inter-border transactions, communication and bond.
He said that ECOWAS had been quietly seeking for ways of introducing borderless roaming in the area but had now been beaten to it by pan African mobile operator, Celtel.
Stressing the importance of Celtel's One Network, the ECOWAS official explained that the connectivity of the continent by means of telecommunications technology was one of the top two priorities of the NEPAD, the other being the individualisation of air transport system of Africa.
Kamara who spoke at an event to announce the introduction of One Network in Nigeria recently, said that with the bringing in of four West African countries including Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Chad into Celtel One Network, Celtel had demonstrated its dedication to promoting economic growth and development of the sub region.
Also, he explained that because of the numerous benefits of Celtel One Network, the company should speed up its plan to introduce the service in the entire continent.
Celtel recently scrapped roaming charges in 12 African countries, creating the world's first borderless mobile network or One Network and making it possible for people with Celtel SIM cards to use their phones freely without changing their SIM, paying roaming call charges, special sign on fee and charges for receiving calls.
According to Celtel Nigeria's Chief Executive, Bayo Ligali, both pre-paid and post customers of the company had access to the same services in any of the countries involved in One Network as if they were in their home network.
He added that customers could reload their phone with the recharge cards, call customer care and send voicemail, any time they travel to any of the countries
With the expansion of Celtel One network, over 400 million people now have access to the benefits of the borderless network across Africa.
The benefits of One Network are now available in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Congo Brazzaville, Gabon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Burkina Faso , Chad, Niger, Malawi and Sudan.
Celtel has disclosed that there were plans to extend the history making service to more countries in Africa, the Middle East and other parts of the world. Underling the pan Africa mobile operator's parent company, Zain Group's expansion drive and quest to become one of the top global players in the telecom industry.
(Story captured from The Guardian-Nigeria news online: http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/compulife)
Dis na Naija!
doregos
Tributes:
The Guardian newspaper- http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/compulife/
THE Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) has said that the extension of the world's first borderless roaming to the sub region by Celtel would greatly boost the search for a greater integration of the economies of West African States.
According to a spokesperson for the sub regional body and a representative of the Secretary General of ECOWAS, Dr. Jeff Kamara, the elimination of roaming charges in the countries involved in Celtel One Network would enhance inter-border transactions, communication and bond.
He said that ECOWAS had been quietly seeking for ways of introducing borderless roaming in the area but had now been beaten to it by pan African mobile operator, Celtel.
Stressing the importance of Celtel's One Network, the ECOWAS official explained that the connectivity of the continent by means of telecommunications technology was one of the top two priorities of the NEPAD, the other being the individualisation of air transport system of Africa.
Kamara who spoke at an event to announce the introduction of One Network in Nigeria recently, said that with the bringing in of four West African countries including Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Chad into Celtel One Network, Celtel had demonstrated its dedication to promoting economic growth and development of the sub region.
Also, he explained that because of the numerous benefits of Celtel One Network, the company should speed up its plan to introduce the service in the entire continent.
Celtel recently scrapped roaming charges in 12 African countries, creating the world's first borderless mobile network or One Network and making it possible for people with Celtel SIM cards to use their phones freely without changing their SIM, paying roaming call charges, special sign on fee and charges for receiving calls.
According to Celtel Nigeria's Chief Executive, Bayo Ligali, both pre-paid and post customers of the company had access to the same services in any of the countries involved in One Network as if they were in their home network.
He added that customers could reload their phone with the recharge cards, call customer care and send voicemail, any time they travel to any of the countries
With the expansion of Celtel One network, over 400 million people now have access to the benefits of the borderless network across Africa.
The benefits of One Network are now available in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Congo Brazzaville, Gabon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Burkina Faso , Chad, Niger, Malawi and Sudan.
Celtel has disclosed that there were plans to extend the history making service to more countries in Africa, the Middle East and other parts of the world. Underling the pan Africa mobile operator's parent company, Zain Group's expansion drive and quest to become one of the top global players in the telecom industry.
(Story captured from The Guardian-Nigeria news online: http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/compulife)
Dis na Naija!
doregos
Tributes:
The Guardian newspaper- http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/compulife/
Monday 21 January 2008, 4:03 AM
Celtel closes behind; starts off in Ghana, expands in Nigeria.
CELTEL International BV is set to commence full-scale operations in the telecommunications industry by the first quarter of this year.
The company, which had already paid $115 million as part of the transaction purse of Western Telesystems Limited (WESTEL) to government, is preparing to enter the Ghanaian market at most before the first quarter of this year.
Celtel also intend to intensify the expansion of its network in Nigeria in 2008, increasing its capacity, growing its coverage and improving on its quality of service. Celtel International remains committed to the realisation of its parent company, Zain Group's global expansion vision and aggressive subscriber growth in 2008, the company said recently.
Celtel Nigeria is expected to continue its massive investment in network expansion including its 400 kilometre optic fibre project with Nokia Siemens Network, other transmission capacity building projects, national network monitoring centre project, soft switches installation projects, mobile data capability building project with Motorola for a comprehensive network expansion in the southern part of Nigeria, among others.
Celtel is one of the biggest players in Nigerian telecom industry and hopes to dominate the Ghanaian market within few years of commencing operation in the country.
The Ghanaian market is vital to Celtel, which want to use it as a window to link up its other operations in the sub-region. The Pan African mobile operator that currently has over 23 million subscribers operates in the West African states of Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Burkina Faso, and Sierra Leone. In all, the company operates currently in 15 countries.
Some market watchers believe Celtel stands a chance of gaining momentum in the industry if it introduces cheap and interesting products.
In late December 2007, Celtel paid part of the transaction fee for acquiring 75 per cent shares in WESTEL to government covering Sales and Purchase Agreement (SPA).
Oboshie Sai-Cofie, minister of Information and National Orientation, said Celtel's holding in WESTEL is, however, expected to reduce to 70 per cent within three years when it releases five per cent of its shares in addition to those to be released and floated on the Ghana Stock Exchange, to benefit Ghanaians.
A subsidiary of Kuwaiti company, Zain (formerly named MTC), Celtel is one of the largest telecommunications company in Eastern and Southern Africa.
In a recent report, Celtel announced the introduction of 'One Network', the world's first borderless mobile network to Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Chad, Malawi, Niger, and Sudan.
These countries were said to have joined the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in the network, which was initially launched in September 2006 and has been expanded due to increased demand.
The extension of this technological breakthrough according to the a corporate affairs released, now offered the possibility for nearly half of Africa's population to make calls at local rates across 12 countries throughout the continent.
Meanwhile, Celtel is expected to retain the current management and workers of WESTEL when it begins operations.
(Story captured from the Guardian newspaper- Wednesday, January 16, 2008)
-Dis na Naija!
-doregos.
Tributes:
The Guardian- http://www.guardiannewsngr.com
The company, which had already paid $115 million as part of the transaction purse of Western Telesystems Limited (WESTEL) to government, is preparing to enter the Ghanaian market at most before the first quarter of this year.
Celtel also intend to intensify the expansion of its network in Nigeria in 2008, increasing its capacity, growing its coverage and improving on its quality of service. Celtel International remains committed to the realisation of its parent company, Zain Group's global expansion vision and aggressive subscriber growth in 2008, the company said recently.
Celtel Nigeria is expected to continue its massive investment in network expansion including its 400 kilometre optic fibre project with Nokia Siemens Network, other transmission capacity building projects, national network monitoring centre project, soft switches installation projects, mobile data capability building project with Motorola for a comprehensive network expansion in the southern part of Nigeria, among others.
Celtel is one of the biggest players in Nigerian telecom industry and hopes to dominate the Ghanaian market within few years of commencing operation in the country.
The Ghanaian market is vital to Celtel, which want to use it as a window to link up its other operations in the sub-region. The Pan African mobile operator that currently has over 23 million subscribers operates in the West African states of Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Burkina Faso, and Sierra Leone. In all, the company operates currently in 15 countries.
Some market watchers believe Celtel stands a chance of gaining momentum in the industry if it introduces cheap and interesting products.
In late December 2007, Celtel paid part of the transaction fee for acquiring 75 per cent shares in WESTEL to government covering Sales and Purchase Agreement (SPA).
Oboshie Sai-Cofie, minister of Information and National Orientation, said Celtel's holding in WESTEL is, however, expected to reduce to 70 per cent within three years when it releases five per cent of its shares in addition to those to be released and floated on the Ghana Stock Exchange, to benefit Ghanaians.
A subsidiary of Kuwaiti company, Zain (formerly named MTC), Celtel is one of the largest telecommunications company in Eastern and Southern Africa.
In a recent report, Celtel announced the introduction of 'One Network', the world's first borderless mobile network to Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Chad, Malawi, Niger, and Sudan.
These countries were said to have joined the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in the network, which was initially launched in September 2006 and has been expanded due to increased demand.
The extension of this technological breakthrough according to the a corporate affairs released, now offered the possibility for nearly half of Africa's population to make calls at local rates across 12 countries throughout the continent.
Meanwhile, Celtel is expected to retain the current management and workers of WESTEL when it begins operations.
(Story captured from the Guardian newspaper- Wednesday, January 16, 2008)
-Dis na Naija!
-doregos.
Tributes:
The Guardian- http://www.guardiannewsngr.com
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