Etisalat opens Nigeria network

By Muyiwa Oni

Etisalat has flagged off commercial mobile services in Nigeria in what is expected to heighten competition in Nigeria's telephone market of 54 million subscribers.

Touted as the fastest growing telecommunications company in the world and the largest operator in Africa and the Middle East, Etisalat announced its start of service at a media meet in Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital.

Company officials led by Mr. Wael Ammar, vice president marketing, Etisalat Nigeria said the mobile network was bringing to Nigerians a robust experience in managing a 74 million strong global customer base across 17 countries.

Etisalat Nigeria will be offering Nigerians competitive access to a world class suite of Etisalat products and services covering extensive voice, data and innovative value added services, said Ammar.

"Etisalat Nigeria is entering this exciting market backed by the strong and consistent record of technological and financial performance of the Etisalat Group for the past 32years. This indeed enables Etisalat Nigeria to enjoy great synergies in research and development, rapid market entry and competitive pricing."

Rollout strategy is designed to cover the entire geographical spectrum of Nigeria in phases starting with seven cities: Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Kaduna, Port Harcourt, Ibadan and Ogbomoso.

Aggressive network rollout will continue swiftly to a second phase covering several other cities and enhancing coverage in areas where services have been already been launched.

The telecoms giant also announced the introduction of its flagship product package called Easy Starter. This innovative prepaid package offers several revolutionary features to the prevalent pre paid experience. It also features the innovative tariff called Homezone which enables subscribers to choose the zone where they spend most of there time in order to enjoy lower tariff calls.

Easy starter also enables subscribers for the first time ever on a mobile network to call collect, a feature which enables the receiver pay for the call. For the first time ever also customer will be able to perform direct recharge of Etisalat subscriber lines by IVR.

The Easy Starter pack enables the users to choose where and how to make the best of their airtime and talk time.

The first official call on Etisalat Nigeria was made on the 13 March 2008 to signify its readiness for commercial launch. This was followed by the launch of the 0809uchoose campaign. The dynamic subscriber promotion was designed to empower Nigerians with free personalized numbers, free SIM cards and free monthly airtime for life. The free 3-in-one package has at its core the company's desire to give the customer the best quality and the best price regime ever. Etisalat also confirmed that customers will be able to redeem the numbers they reserved immediately at various redemption centres.

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