Globacom has confirmed its rating as the fastest growing telecommunication company in Middle East and Africa (MEA), amassing an unprecedented 5.8 million subscribers in 2006.
The closest to Globacom in terms of new subscriber acquisition was TCI of Iran which added 5.66 million new customers.
MTN Nigeria came third with 3.9 million new subscribers. “ Saudi Arabia ’s Ettihad Etisalat (Mobily) finished fourth with 3.67 million additions while Orascom of Egypt which was second in September fell back to fifth place with 3.42 million, ahead of Vodacom of South Africa which added 3.40 million customers.
A new report by leading industry publication, Cellular News, showed that Nigeria ’s Second National Operator moved to the new position 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.
Reacting to the latest report, Globacom’s Executive Director, Human Resources, Adewale Sangowawa, said that Globacom was well on its way to realizing its vision of becoming Africa ’s biggest and best telecommunications company.
The network which 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 from 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 Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) recently conveyed approval to Globacom to launch 3G services in Nigeria. The technology which Globacom is now set to launch offer for the first time in Nigeria high speed internet access, video calling and video streaming, phone-to-phone video telephony, Video Greeting Kiosk and Video Mail Box.
The company is already working towards entering the Ghanaian market, a feat that will further increase its share of the African mobile sector.
“Globacom’s vision is to be the largest, most successful entertainment, information and telecommunications solutions provider, both in Nigeria and Africa as a whole. We are steadily moving in that direction,” Sangowawa declared.
Source: Sun
